Lockdown Diary: Sunday 31.5.20

Of course, this morning, I returned to the bean field where the Quails had been seen on Saturday. And, with patience and luck, I rediscovered one in exactly the same area of the field. The other one has moved on, presumably having found a partner?. This individual, though, was patrolling around the field, covering perhaps 300m on foot before bouts of singing and moving on. I could do this every morning!

But, as on Saturday, as the sun got warmer, so the Quail went quiet. I moved down to Orton Brick Pit in south-west Peterborough, to hope for a return of the Osprey seen the previous day (not by me) and to enjoy the insects and other wildlife in and around the clear waters of this excellent site. A splash drew my attention to a small fish (perhaps four inches long), which turned out to be a small Pike! And swimming a few feet from that (but I failed to get a photo) was a giant underwater bug which is known as a Water Stick Insect. This is the first time I have seen our largest aquatic insect, and what an impressive beast it was: about three inches long and looking like a mantis or indeed a stick insect, or a gigantic underwater Water Measurer.

Young Pike, Orton Brick Pit, Peterborough, 31.5.20

Four-spotted Chaser, Orton Brick Pit, Peterborough, 31.5.20

Emerging damselflies