Tuesday, 26 February 2019

Wandering round a local churchyard, Meriden Rookery, first garden butterfly of the year



Sunday was a lovely day and, having seen reports of butterflies appearing, I decided to go along to Berkswell churchyard in the hope that I might see a Brimstone either there or along the country lanes.




There was plenty of colour in the form of tubs and


crocuses on the village green which were getting visits from bees.




Wells House once I believe the rectory and it was home to Maud Watson(1862-1946), winner of the first Ladies' Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon in 1884. Her father Henry was vicar at Berkswell church. Maud is buried in the churchyard with her sister.

(Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while will have heard some of the history of Berkswell before as it is a place I do tend to visit fairly regularly!).



The ancient well is 16 feet deep and it is believed it was used centuries ago to baptise people converting to Christianity.




The War Memorial in the churchyard.



St John the Baptist dates from the 12th century and was built on the site of an earlier Saxon church. I didn't go in the church on Sunday but I have done previous posts on the church interior and its ancient crypt.



Some of the corbels around the exterior - I found some new ones on this visit on the North side of the church.













A friendly face and a


frankly quite terrifying one.




Sundial on the church tower



Sections of two walls of the church are covered in graffiti - some dating back to the 19th century. I always wonder about the stories behind the initials and names.










Lesser Celandine is now starting to flower although




the snowdrops were fading and I only found a few clumps with fresh flowers.







Lichen forming a miniature forest on the church wall.









The churchyard preaching cross is medieval and replaced an even older one.







Sadly no butterflies were seen.




On the way home I stopped off at Meriden to visit the rookery there which is always full of activity at this time of year and it is delightful to watch the rooks and their activities as they build/repair nests.









Yesterday I did see my first butterfly of the year - a Small Tortoiseshell on Bergenia flowers in the garden. It is always the same you go in search of butterflies and fail to find one but then unexpectedly when you are not looking for it one turns up!






Flowers including

Periwinkle,


Lungwort,



Snowdrops,


Wild Primroses and





Camellia


are now appearing in the garden and we also now have daffodils in flower.


All photos taken by me with the Pansonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera



15 comments:

  1. First butterfly of the year here is generally Mourning Cloak.

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  2. David Gascoigne - Thank you. I have just googled Mourning Cloak and realised it is what we call Camberwell Beauty - it occasionally turns up over here. What a beautiful butterfly - hope you see one soon.

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  3. A grand set of corbels.
    Same here on the flutter front. Quite a few Small Tortoiseshells visiting the Heather plants.

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  4. I've still to see a Butterfly but my husband (who's out and about for work)has seen several over the past few days! It looks like you had a great walk and it's always good to watch the Rooks. We have a lot around the local Morrisons car park at the moment!

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  5. Midmarsh John - Thank you. Not quite up to corbels at Kilpeck but still so interesting :) Good to start seeing butterflies again.

    Pam - Thank you. I am sure you will see a butterfly soon on your walks - warm weather seems set to last a while yet.

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  6. I've just seen a butterfly fly by the window but could't see what it was, saw the first large bee earlier this week and plenty of smaller ones in the heather, birds are collecting nesting material too. Some of the new carvings seem to have feline faces. I wonder how the looming war affected A Griffiths of South Wales? I noticed that the lungwort leaves had appeared in the garden but no sign of any flowers yet:)

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  7. Rosie - Thank you. Bees and butterflies seem to have a habit of zooming past windows before you can id them! :) We have had blue tits by the nest box and I saw a house sparrow going into a hole in the roof :) You do wonder about the stories behind the initials and yes I agree about some of the corbels looking feline! We have two lungworts here - one flowers earlyish whereas the other one flowers much later in the year.

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  8. Lovely photographs of the church :-)

    The weather is unseasonably warm, I have seen large bees buzzing around my garden taking advantage of the early blossom but I have yet to see a butterfly.

    Over the weekend I saw a couple of quail around my estate and they looked like they were looking for a nesting place in shrubbery near to my house. It is far too early for quail to be migrating back from their winter home, let alone thinking of nesting!

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  9. CherryPie - Thank you and yes it is very warm for the time of year!

    That is so early for quail! although I am sure I have seen reports on Twitter of swallows being seen off the south coast! If the weather returns to "normal" temperatures wildlife could well get caught out which is worrying :(

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  10. The only flutters here have been Brimstone.

    Your last Lichen picture amazed me, it looks so different from anything I have ever seen before.

    A Rookery, how wonderful. I love Rooks so much, probably because I seldom see any here.

    Colder today, the heating came on.

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  11. Toffeeapple - Thank you. I haven't seen a Brimstone yet.

    I am sure I found out once what that lichen is but not having much luck this time!

    Colder here today too and rain! Heating on here too!

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  12. Just realising how may post I have missed !
    Love this one with all the wild flowers and the graffiti on the church walls. Another super sunny day.

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  13. Amanda Peters - Thanks and don't worry as I have been posting a lot recently. Yes the day's weather was superb again :)

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  14. Rooks!!!! Sweet! I think they are common there, but that's one I also can't wait to observe. I think they are very intelligent birds. Very cool!

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  15. Chris Rohrer - Thanks so much. Yes they are common and I agree they are intelligent. They nest colonially so look for tall trees with lots of nest together and rooks :)

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