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.

I’m sure the blackbirds appreciated that offering!

No butterflies here yet either. I went to the local woodland today, only to find that the path that runs through it has been shut. The woodland is in a really steep valley, so there wasn’t really anywhere else to go. It was a little disappointing, but still nice to be amongst the trees for a few minutes even if the most exciting thing I saw was a wren. I really like wrens though, so I’m not complaining!

The last time I went to this woodland I had a face-to-face encounter with a tawny owl. Not sure which of us was the most freaked out 😂

Ooh face to face with a tawny owl would be an interesting encounter! I once came face to face with a toad on the banks of the River Tone during a water vole survey. It scared the life out of me.

Some years ago, my neighbour called round and said 'you've got to come out and see this...' pointing to my (unused) chimney. There, perfectly fitting in the cowl was a cosy-looking tawny. We've had to have a guard fitted it over since then to stop jackdaws nesting down it, so that was a bit of a one-off.

I sometimes get a wren foraging in the tubs on my patio so just a few inches away through the glass. Lovely cheerful little things.

Spotted the first honeybees in my garden today, but still no sign of butterflies!

My wild damson tree is starting to flower and I’ve seen signs that the buds are breaking on my ornamental cherry tree. At this rate my garden should be full with blossom at Easter time ☺️

@blackteaplease I live not far from the River Tone!

I have noticed a lot of large bees on my walks lately.

Its beautiful round there @Wildernesstips. I live in Devon but have done a lot of ecology work for the Environment Agency in Somerset over the years.

I wish my blossom tree would bloom @crazzzycat, all buds tightly closed here still.

I’m surprised my blossom trees are flowering earlier than yours @blackteaplease. I would have thought Devon would be a little bit warmer than north west Wales 🤔

I live in this weird little cold dip at the bottom of a hill and my garden runs a few weeks behind the rest of the county. I've been out and about today and seen blackthorn and cherry flowering.

My only blossom tree is crab apple, that's nowhere near doing anything yet up here in Lancashire. But magnolias in the neighbourhood are starting to come out.

Today's Times Nature Notebook is from an area not too far from here which we've not visited much... maybe this summer if we're lucky.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/escape-the-suburbs-to-see-a-myriad-of-wildlife-mmhhpkzld?shareToken=a2c3b4c4394251ec9f6234f20c7a7b0e

The “stay local” rule was lifted in Wales yesterday. So, I swapped what had become my usual Saturday morning hike in the hills, for a visit to a very old church in the next valley. It’s surrounded by ancient yew trees and supposed to be one of the best places to see hawfinches in Wales.

Quite a few chunky finches were spotted, but they were moving way too fast to get a positive ID. But, I did see so many other birds, including my first woodpecker of the year and two red kites, which are a real rarity where I live.

I’m not very good at plant ID, but there were daffodils, primroses and wood anemone (and I’m sure lots of other plants!) everywhere. It made such a lovely change from the much rougher uplands I’ve been visiting over the last 6 months ☺️.

I hope you all get to explore more too once the stay local rule is lifted in England tomorrow!

A walk by the river this morning - the soft white stars of wood anemone have suddenly appeared in the short time since we were there last, and the very first of the bluebells are showing some colour. And in one place, lots of butterbur spikes, that eccentric cousin of the sunflower family, were emerging.

I saw a butterfly today! I was with idiot dog who decided to do a poo just as it settled and by the time I looked up, I couldn't see it any longer. So I headed in its general direction and it took off. I think it was a painted lady but not 100%.

And then as we were heading back, a fat bumblebee drunkenly Zigzagged about on the breeze. Spring is here!

I heard and saw a skylark yesterday, definitely a sign of spring for me.

And today, high excitement! I spotted a great diving beetle in our new nature pond, the first sign of wildlife since we dug it out.

I saw a butterfly too - very wind-tossed, so just a glimpse, probably a tortoiseshell.

Still no butterflies spotted here, but this morning I did see my first wheatear of the year.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for them for weeks, as they’re usually one of the first migrant birds to return, but they didn’t seem to be in much of a rush this year!

Today we went to the northern corner of the county. Loads of chiffchaffs among the other birdsong in the woods, abundant primroses and violets but no wood anemones - I wonder if they don't like limestone? Butterflies out in pretty good numbers - quite a few brimstone, and various dark/reds most of which I couldn't be sure of but probably tortoiseshell rather than peacock or red admiral, and two which were definitely tortoiseshells in a pussy willow buzzing with bees. At one point in our walk, the lane ahead had what looked to be a beekeeper doing some 'smoking' , so we decided discretion was the better part of valour and took an alternative route. Earlier in the day I'd had a close encounter with a large red-tailed bumble bee which had decided my forehead was a good place to sit, and then after DH flicked it up off my face it had to be extricated from my hair. Fortunately we were able to send it on its way with no harm to us or it.

How exciting to see the first signs of life in your pond @blackteaplease! Did you put it in this year, or last?

We built it late winter @Crazzzycat. It has some oxygenatir plants in but I'm holding off planting any marginal or aquatic plants until the risk of frost has passed. I'm hoping for frogs and some dragonflies to watch.

@ErrolTheDragon rather you than me with the bee encounter. I get very squeamish when insects are near my face

Glorious weather here in SW France this week.

Very excited to have seen a pair of hoopoes in the garden today.

I can't get close enough for a picture, but would recommend googling them. They are very beautiful.

Loads of butterflies in the garden today! Seen none until today and must have seen a dozen fluttering about!

Finally saw my first butterfly today! Two in fact- a spotted wood and a peacock. And I caught another glimpse of some magnificent red kites. I’m not sure what’s going on here. We’ve gone from not seeing a single red kite in a decade to seeing them multiple times a week. I’m not complaining, but it is odd!

I haven't spotted any butterflies yet but I'm sure it wont be long. I can see that the hedgehogs are active as the kindly poo all over the garden and one appears to have nested in the bottom of the bug hotel. I'm buying DH a trail cam for his birthday next month, cant wait to see what night creatures we have.

In the wider world (well slightly) I went for a walk last night and found a large bunch of wild garlic about to come into flower. It has such a pungent smell.

I guess your hedgehog has figured out how to get breakfast in bed!

We don't seem to get red kites in my area - hereabouts (though I think may be true across much of the country? ) it's buzzards which have gone from rare to pretty common. I think like many large species they suffered in the DDT etc years.

I took your shameless plug ErrolTheDragon and sought out this tranquil part of MN.

We have seen lovely primroses, they seem more numerous and prominent this year. Birds of prey which I am never sure of, they are likely either sparrowhawks or goshawks. Then piles of wood pigeon feathers on the ground which might be their handiwork or perhaps foxes. There is some strange screaming at dusk and I wonder if it might be foxes mating.

Yesterday I saw my first hornet of the year, I rescued it from captivity in my house by means of a dry mop, it seemed content to crawl onto the thick strands and then be transported to the garden.

An appropriate name for this place!