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 may blossom is coming out in force - I can't believe how much more there is today than yesterday - it's as though it has exploded - looks amazing.

It seems to be getting earlier every year.

My new neighbour! I’d leave some food out, but we’d get rats - if the dog didn’t get to it first.

Red kite! Brilliant!

There is a pair near us - we often see them getting mobbed by crows. They take no notice. They are magnificent!

Not sure if you’ll be able to see them, but two cheeky partridges are having a dance off in our vegetable patch this morning... I do need to go out there at some point this morning, but I don’t like to disturb them!

No further more sightings, although I haven’t been outside as much this weekend as the temperature dropped off a bit. Hoping to see it again this week.

They're posing quite nicely. We occasionally get red legged partridges around here. I was really puzzled wtf the noise was the first time!

I haven't been out yet but I've just seen a pair of buzzards overhead, and a sparrow (house, though we do sometimes get tree) on the lawn gleaning some feathers. I think they've been shed by the plump woodpigeons.

Blackthorn from my walk today, the sloes should be good later on in the year.

Lovely - and something to look forward to.

Walking along local road today - saw something like a thrush in a tree but it had an 'eye stripe' so possibly a redwing.

We're thinking of doing a dawn walk sometime - preferably soon as just after the clocks have changed it's not quite so horrendously early!

Starting to worry about our red kites.

They are following dog walkers - DD suggests that fear cars = less roadkill = hungry kites.

I'm pretty sure they take small game if they ca't get carrion.

Guard your chihuahua!

Lock up your guinea pigs.

I'd never thought about a downside to less roadkill. OTOH, I believe buzzards are adaptable feeders and will eat earthworms etc.

I love this thread.
I adore the blackbirds in our garden, I could watch them for hours.

Hedgehog(s) have woken up from hibernation, I've seen the poo on the lawn. I'll attach a picture of him last autumn.

Bad picture as I had to zoom from a distance, but I saw this bird having a bath in our birdbath, and then identified it as a thrush from another thread on here

Chris packham is doing a great live twitter thing every morning at 9am. It’s like spring watch!

Dusk walk..

Cherry blossom

Little Egret fishing today. Not a brilliant photo as he or she was very shy and I couldn't get nearer.

We are having a very handsome fox visiting for a nosey most days. We're suburban so they're usually quite scraggy and battle worn but he's very fine. The cat stares him out till he leaves,
.

Haven’t seen the red kite for days now, but as usual there are buzzards hanging around. I saw a couple of hares last time I got out with ddog, and a very handsome cock pheasant on my run today - a lovely big fella.

I drove to the supermarket yesterday and there was definitely less carrion on the road. Good news if you’re a rabbit, a pheasant or a squirrel - but not so good for kites and buzzards...

We normally have red kites here too but haven't seen any for days. Or buzzards, come to that - although I heard one yesterday. I'm also missing our local peregrines; my current walks don't get me close enough to see them, and it's the wrong time of year for youngsters to be branching out away from the nest to learn to hunt. Two autumns' ago, I watched a young peregrine flying at a flock of field fares in a thoroughly inept manner. If field fares could have stuck up two fingers, they'd have done so!

Lots of birdsong today, and a distant woodpecker as I walked through the woods. Am also now working at a desk that overlooks my bird table, which may not be great for my productivity but is certainly good for morale.

Loads of parakeets in London. Today I saw a magpie chasing a parakeet around.

Today I saw my first red campion flowers of the year, plus white and red dead nettles.

Waves to @AlwaysOnAbloodyDiet

Lovely thread.

I saw a buzzard yesterday when out walking the dog, quite high up but making a fair bit of noise.

Today I saw a lapwing flapping about near the river. Do they have a mating dance? Because it looked like one. The blackthorn blossom here is just starting to go over, the hawthorn is coming into leaf and I'm cross not to be out and about as much as normal as this is prime wildlife-spotting time: the animals are active but there's not much foliage yet.

Lots of robins in our little garden and yesterday I saw something I haven't seen for years - a teeny tiny sparrow! Used to see them all the time as a kid but hardly ever these days.

Today I saw a lapwing flapping about near the river. Do they have a mating dance?

Yes! And I think this is also when you're likeliest to hear their call which gives them their other name, 'peewit'.
We normally visit places which have loads of lapwings, they're probably my favourite in flight whether the mating display or a whole flock.

Some lapwing info

www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/wading-birds/lapwing