I spent an hour in the warm sunshine yesterday afternoon wandering round Marsh Lane NR.
There were quite a few bumble bees around - Red-tailed and this Garden Bumble Bee.
Butterflies, especially Peacock and Orange Tip, together with Small White and Small Tortoiseshell, were flittering around everywhere.
A worn Small Tortoiseshell
I spent ages chasing after Orange Tip (I think CT will empathise here!!) trying to get a photo without success. They just never seem to alight anywhere or if they do they are up and away as soon as you get within 10 metres of them. I eventually struck lucky in Railway Copse where one was nectaring on blackthorn blossom. Of course, its wings weren't open but you can't have everything!
If you enlarge the photo you can see the Orange Tip's eyes and it looks as though it has turned to stare at me!!
I managed to take a lot of photos of Peacocks as they were happily basking on the sun-warmed ground and were quite happy for me to approach fairly close.
This pheasant made me laugh as soon as it saw me approaching the feeding station it was off!
It was lovely to see the freshly emerging leaves, blossom and gorse flowers against the blue sky
I spotted a Green Woodpecker on a grassy bank near Oak Hide and this was the closest I got before it flew away. I couldn't even be bothered to crop the photo as the woodpecker will be very blurred but if you enlarge the photo you may be able to make it out behind the gate.
Cuckoo Flower (or Lady's Smock) was flowering everywhere. It is one of the primary larval food plants of the Orange Tip.
Other highlights of the visit included a Bullfinch and a Mistle Thrush (new species for the Reserve) with a mouth full of grubs so it must already be feeding young. I didn't see any newly arriving summer bird visitors but I only popped into one hide briefly spending most of my time watching butterflies
Leaves are starting to unfurl on the beautiful sallow which grows near the car park.
Garden Wildlife
The female Blue Tit finished building a nest in the nestbox with camera a week or so ago and on Monday morning, 14th April, when we switched on the camera and TV she had had laid the first egg.
This is very early compared to dates in previous years since we first installed the camera.
2010 28th April
2011 25th April
2012 25th April
2013 27th April
She has been laying an egg a day since. She won't begin to incubate the eggs until the clutch is near completion.
"Say No to the Mow"
Plantlife is running a "Say No to the Mow" campaign. The idea is to encourage people to leave a small patch of lawn unmown until August to see what wildflowers appear. Results that can then be submitted to their website and will appear on a wildflower map of the UK.
I managed to persuade B not to mow a patch a few metres square in a sunny part of the garden. Its closer to flower beds that I would have liked although its mainly shrubs in the one border. But, even though the lawn is full of moss, it is B's pride and joy so I wasn't going to push my luck and insist on a piece in the middle of the lawn. What is it about men and the desire for a bowling green lawn???
Here's my "no mow" zone to the left of the recently cut grass. At the moment its just a bit taller than the rest of the lawn.
Already a few plants are appearing. Id on this one is ongoing - Red Dead Nettle?? - well it does have a reddish square stem!!! If any one has any idea I would love to know!
Most of the identifications will have to wait until flowers appear - I can see a clover leaf on this photo but the larger leaved plant will have to wait for now
I think this may turn out to be a Bittercress species
This tiny little plant looks interesting!
This looks like a tree leaf - id to follow
Of course, I am going to get a few garden plants self seeding which won't count and this is bamboo sprouting.
I'll plant more updates as the year progresses as I am really quite excited about what might appear and, of course, it will help my 365 challenge and insect pollinators :) !!
If you would like more information on the campaign please visit www.plantlife.org.uk
Wishing everyone a wonderful Easter weekend
