Avez-Vous un Cuppa?

Ok the title sounds like a bit of porn but it's based on my wildlife highlights yesterday!! Birding highlights included finding a calling Quail in roadside fields between Harston and Woolsthorpe by Belvoir in the Vale of Belvoir just 100 metres inside the Leicestershire county boundary! Not far from the Vale of Belvoir I also visited Saltby Airfield hoping to find Turtle Dove which I had recorded at this site in the last few years. However disappointing I didn't find any Turtle Doves but I did see good numbers of Dingy Skippers (30+)  on the nearby limestone outcrops. Ok so your asking were are the chicks?! Well the chicks came in form of seven Red-crested Pochard chicks by the car park at Watermead CP South when I returned to my local patch later in the evening.  I'm not sure if it's the first time that Red-crested Pochard have bred in Leicestershire but it is the first time in the Soar valley recording area! Dingy Skipper@ Saltby Airfield Dingy S

Following a text message from Ben Croxtall about the whereabouts of a couple of singing Quails near Groby, after finishing work I drove over to Anstey Lane to see if I could hear the distinctive call (sounds like Wet-my-lips,Wet-my-lips..) in the nearby fields. Walking along the footpath from Anstey Lane towards the fishing lakes next to Groby Quarry, it wasn't long before I heard at least one Quail calling from the crop. Over the next hour the Quail was heard calling at least three times and always at the same time as the nearby Skylarks burst into there flight song. As I walked back to the car I noticed at least six Painted Ladies Butterflies flying around the footpath and realised that maybe the invasion of these butterflies was still occurring and possible the Quail and the Butterflies had migrating from the same area in North Africa? On the whole it was great to hear the Quail calling but maybe next time I should borrow a Jack Russell dog to flush the little critters!!