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.

FIVE GuyFawkes

Don't forget me!

Just been out for a walk in local fields. Hear a woodpecker , saw a lapwing (and heard a peewit) - and a zephyr of bumbarrels. (I've got that on 2 other threads)

We're not going out today, but I just saw a cock pheasant stick his head up from a clump of geranium leaves.

A weekend walk: spurge in dappled sunshine.

And dried mealworms are bleurgh!

It's such a curious plant, I wonder why its like that?

Grumpy, that's not spurge, it's miner's lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata. It's edible and very nice to eat!

Huh, you learn something new every day

Though we don't have miner's in these parts, so I might have heard it called winter purslane.

Don't think I'd fancy eating it from there, though: right by the path, with a nice dressing of fag ash and dog wee...

*miners

Live mealworms are more bleurgh!!!

5 eggs and Mrs Robin is now sitting on the nest. It's such a privilege.

On walk tonight we've seen skylarks, a kestrel, baby rabbit, pheasants, and some bluebells, stitchwort and cuckoo-pint flowering in the wooded areas too.

Yeah, Grumpy, piss-flavour isn't one of the best, and I say this as a Thigh, who's whole lives revolve around it

We did go out late in the afternoon after all - very windy, didn't see many birds except for 4 Canada geese flying over.
I've just remembered last time we went this way, a 'pond' which is a slowly drying our flooded corner of a field had a couple of shelduck on it. I don't think I've ever seen any of those here before.

Where's bunny?

Pic did not post.

Fingers crossed.

I just saw two bats, against the embers of a rather fine sunset.

I've been digging some brambles out of a border for the last couple of days and I'm being closely monitored by our resident robin who thinks I'm not finding sufficient worms.

Tonight we've had steak and I've put the fat out for the foxes. The littlest one came made two visits before she was brave enough to come to eat it. Then ate it all

A path full of promise...

Lovely @Pascha

AnkiPanki - that bunny is a delight!

What sharp eyes you must have to have spotted him.

A few pix from the last few days. I heard a cuckoo this morning from a long way off but very clear.

Thanks @SchadenfreudePersonified . As soon as I had finished it bolted .

We've got that white flower now - is it a stitchwort?
Also saw my first cuckoo flower of the year.

I think so, Errol. Lots of it around.

I saw some martins this afternoon so spring has definitely sprung. Can anybody ID the tree in the second pic?

Well, it was the second pic. The green one.