Sparrowhawks Fledge

Just when I thought it was going to be a blank year for breeding Sparrowhawks along came three young in Hopwood Woods that were being fed, very noisily, by two adults. I have yet to locate the nest that they have fledged from but at this stage they do not move very far from the nest site and will be fed for some time yet by the adults. In the garden a different pair of Sparrowhawk have been causing havoc with all the feeding birds and this week have already caught both Greenfinch and House Sparrow. A visit to Dovestones reservoir on the warmest day of the week once again failed to produce any Crossbills. However, I did see several Gatekeeper butterflies which was a new butterfly for me. I understand through the grapevine that in Ashworth Valley on the 1st, in warm sunshine, at least three Purple Hairstreak Butterflies were seen. They are an extremely rare butterfly locally so if we have a return to warmer weather I shall have to make a visit. An unusual sight during the evening of the 6th was more than fifty Swallows on the ground on one of the fairways of the local golf course apparently capturing flying ants as they emerged.