Nature Notes

[ErrolTheDragon]

There's a gardening thread which may overlap with this one but I thought people might like to share nature sightings as the season changes. What we see if we can get out for a walk, plants coming into leaf and bloom, creatures in the garden, birds flying overhead - whatever.

Yesterday along the canal: busy wrens, 3 butterflies (tortoiseshell I think). Lots of Lords and Ladies arrow-shaped leaves. A little bank of primroses, lots of celandines and some wood anemones. Yellow iris leaves starting to shoot up in the edge of the canal.

The local farmer just informed me that the first lambs of the season were born this morning!

I saw a large group of buzzards on my walk today, which surprised me as I didn’t think they were particularly sociable birds. I also saw a fox, which was even more surprising as I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non-urban fox out during daylight hours. It was a day full of surprises! 😄

We have had three red kites over our town recently (Hampshire). I can't tell if it's three adults or two adults and their youngster from last summer.
And huge excitement when I saw a newt yesterday. A local college has a fenced off wildlife pond and I spent a few minutes watching it. No frog spawn yet though.

I think I see buzzards at least as often in twos as singly, and sometimes four. I don't think I've ever seen a larger group.

Oh I love red kites @megletsecond! There were rumours a few weeks ago that a red kite had been spotted circling my village (Wales), but unfortunately I didn’t see it

Today I saw two adult siskins feed each other. I guess that means it won’t be long until they lay some eggs! Over the last few months siskins have fast become my favourite garden bird. They’re so gorgeous and so well behaved (unlike their squabbling goldfinch cousins 🙈), plus they don’t seem to mind me getting really close to them. I often end up having to wait a few minutes for them to leave the feeder, as my presence isn’t enough to get them to move!

We don't have much activity on our bird feeder, an occasional robin, goldfinch, coal tit, blue tit and wood pigeon. It all kicks off when the eggs hatch and the feeding frenzy begins

Sounds like they're posing for a photo, Crazzzycat.

My first sighting of hedgerow primroses today.

Love this thread. This week I've seen lapwings and bumble bees, our rhubarb is emerging from the ground and the pear tree is just about to burst into blossom

There's a cottage in our village which has a rhubarb patch in its front garden, currently erupting with lovely red stems.

I just let the dog out and took a moment to admire the crescent moon clear in a dark blue sky with a touch of lighter blue on the westwards horizon ...and I saw a couple of bats flitting across the garden!

They'll be pipistrelles, the soffits on our estate make a perfect summer roost.

I thought I didn't usually see any till April, according to this they're usually out April-sep but I've seen them into Oct or even November

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/other-garden-wildlife/mammals/common-pipistrelle/

How lovely to have bats in your garden Errol. We get them too, but usually much later in the year.

I was chased by a huge bumblebee today. I think I got too close to the main source of nectar in my garden; a tiny Fuji cherry tree that’s smothered in blossom. Being a bee in early spring must be so hard, it’s quite understandable this one was a bit grumpy 😁

@ErrolTheDragon I noticed bats in the garden at the weekend too. Sitting and watching them with a cuppa on a summers evening is one of my favourite things to do

Mentions of blossom upthread - they're not out here yet but when it comes I shall indulge in some hanami under the cherries on a patch of green at the corner of the road.

This piece is about how 'engaging with nature' really is good for you.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/breathe-in-the-blossom-to-improve-wellbeing-in-lockdown-xhkv7rr8x?shareToken=ff61cda32e23f32b66a0aedb6e24ab76

I can relate to a lot of what is in that article Errol. Watching nature has kept me going at a time when otherwise all days would have pretty much blurred into one. Little things, like seeing my first ever kingfisher at the start of the year, or just noticing signs that the seasons are changing, keep me going for days ☺️

I saw a magnificent willow tree on my walk today. It was absolutely covered with catkins, with lots of happy bees buzzing around it. And I heard a chiffchaff. Even though the weather was a bit gloomy, it definitely felt like Spring

We get bats too but it's still too cold here. I love watching the pipistrelle in the garden. We have one that lives in the soffit but when the wildflower meadow is in full bloom we get 6 or so foraging over it. Generally they are active may to Sept but they will emerge from hibernation on a warm night to look for food outside of that period. I know of a study collating data this winter to track how active bats are over winter.

I spotted a bumblebee buzzing round the garden today.

How lovely to happen upon this thread. It's an absolute joy. I hope it's ok to park my sizeable bum down a while, and read through it.

We had pipistrelles living in our old house. I miss them. I used to sit out on a Summer's eve watching them, with the scent of night scented stock all around me.

What a splendid tree @Crazzzycat I don't see many large willow around here, it's all oaks trees in the hedges with occasional Scots pine.

I went into the hills today. Some of the blackthorn has started flowering and there were lots of skylark, meadow pipit and stonechats around. Ravens and choughs were also out in (relatively) large numbers, with the small flock of ravens carrying out some impressive aerial acrobatics. It was absolutely freezing, but well worth the climb! 😊

I love skylark, they are one of my favourite birds.

I dragged the children put after dinner for a walk round the village and we found a field of very new lambs. There were lots of trees coming into leaf and bright green all around. We also saw two buzzards circling overhead

@ErrolTheDragon that’s a great article. We have quite a few trees out in blossom here in South West. I am eagerly watching out for the blossom on the cider orchard’s trees because they allow you to walk around and they also graze longhorn cattle in the orchards.

I wish we had bats. I stayed in a lovely place in rural France and about 3 metres from the door was an entrance to a cave full of bats. We would watch it for hours. Not sure what type they would have been though.

I saw my first blackthorn blossom of the year too, and I'm seeing enchanters nightshade emerging. (The name is its best feature tbh which is why I can never resist mentioning it)

There's a field in our village which usually has a pair of geese and a couple of sheep. On Friday, there was a small hollow which had filled with water, just big enough for the geese to both sit in. By yesterday it had dried out and the hollow now contained a pair of lambs.

Oh! Look at this lovely thread 😍

I'm going to enjoy this. I didn't even know there was a Corona free zone topic! I've hidden Corona

Anyone seen any butterflies yet? I had a Facebook memory from.laast year pop up today saying I'd seen the first of the year but I've not spotted any so far this year.

I did spot one of the lizards basking in the sun today.

No butterflies, but the ladybirds are waking up.

Today we ventured a little further afield, to the green bowl on the edge of the hills. The air was filled with the bubbling call of curlews, punctuated by sharp 'peewits' alerting to the aerial dance of lapwings.

Our destination was the Bronze Age circle, today containing what was perhaps an equinox offering to the natural Genius loci - the hare we spotted on a previous visit - an arrangement of bark, apples, flower petals and ... spinach leaves. However the marks on the apples suggested the gift had been accepted by the chorus of blackbirds in the stand of trees.