A blustery walk around Denham Quarry

Wow, what a difference a day makes ! Todays exercise walk was completely different to yesterday. I had on a fleece today and still felt cold.

I decided to walk a different way today. Instead of investigating St Marys church yard and the lanes, I wandered up to Denham Quarry, a place I used to visit a lot. 

There weren't so many people out today, either the change in weather had kept them all home, or because it was such a bigger area I just didn't see as many people as I did yesterday at St Marys. 

As I predicted in yesterdays blog post, there were not many critters about, but because there are large expanses of water around the quarry there were still plenty of birds to observe. 

There were lots of wild flowers blooming. I could have taken photos of over ten species but I stuck with the two that most stood out to me.

Red Campion - silene dioica

Bugle - ajuga reptans

 There were loads of ducks, coots and moorhens bobbing up down the slightly choppy waters but this family of Mallards really stood out due to how many ducklings they had....

where as in comparison this Canada Goose family only had one gosling....

I found a lovely sheltered clearing by the waters edge where I sat and watched what seemed like hundreds of hirundines swooping low over the water surface and feeding on the various insects that were gathering there. There were Swifts, Swallows and House Martens all skimming along the water surface. Almost impossible to photograph, I must have fired off over 100 pics and below is the only half decent photo I got !! 

I had a bit more luck with the slower and larger birds, like this Black-headed Gull...

A Coot was on a nest nearby but so as not to disturb her, I took my photo through the undergrowth and reeds...

The boating lake is big enough to cater for at least two pairs of Great Crested Grebes. One pair seemed to keep to the left and one pair to the right. Social distancing at its best. 

I didn't spot any butterflies at all today, a complete contrast to yesterday where they were everywhere. There was no slow hum of hoverflies either, and I only found the two below by moving a couple of leaves. They were hunkered down out of the wind, but ready to spring into action when the sun broke through the clouds. Identifications under each photo....

Eristalis pertinax

Leucozona lucorum

 I eventually only turned back when the wind got stronger and the sky got darker. 

Back in my lockdown loftroom I observed the local Jackdaws were also doing a good job of social distancing...

My two housemates in the lockdown loftroom, the Orange-tip butterfly caterpillars, have definitely 'greened' up a bit more. The larger one is about 8-9 days old and now 10mm long, the smaller one is 6 days old and 8mm long....

Yesterday I added two more sprigs of garlic mustard seed pods to their 'homes', and already they have started to devour them. 

Despite knowing what to look for, I have not yet found any 'in the wild' yet there is plenty of garlic mustard around. I could only ever find the bright orange eggs last week, and today I couldn't even find any of them. 

Tomorrows weather is looking to be even colder than today, but there is sunshine forecast so maybe I'll visit the quarry again for my daily walk. 

Keep well everyone and stay safe.