Spring in Southsea
Being so close to the sea is always a treat when we visit Southsea. We had a few walks down to the seafront, and I was very happy to see, on every occasion, a little flock of purple sandpiper - even if they were always dozing! It seems that we are very lucky to see them here, I hadn't realised quite how lucky we have been; according to the distribution maps, they shouldn't really be here. I would assume that they won't be here much longer either, spring is well and truly on it's way and they should be heading back to Northern Europe to breed.
I also decided to do some bee-watching in the back garden; there seemed to be no end of different species, none of which I could be sure of. The only one that obliged to be photographed by staying still long enough was this little hover fly, Myathropa florea. Thank you again people of iSpot for helping to identify!
I also decided to do some bee-watching in the back garden; there seemed to be no end of different species, none of which I could be sure of. The only one that obliged to be photographed by staying still long enough was this little hover fly, Myathropa florea. Thank you again people of iSpot for helping to identify!
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| Myathropa florea |
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| Spanish bluebell |
Spring in my Local Patch
We haven't walked around our local patch, the water meadows just off the A140 (see my-local-patch), in a good few weeks, so the change in vegetation cover has been pretty spectacular; everything is very green! Even the bluebells are out, although they are Spanish bluebells, Hycacinthoides hispanica, rather than our native bluebells. I have only really started to pay attention to the differences this year, and I am hoping that when we do visit my favourite woods at Foxley, I will find they are at least mostly native ones! On of the best places I have found to aid identification is here: www.plantlife.org.uk.
I had a few other sightings on our walk yesterday, and another first for the year; a large white butterfly, Pieris brassicae, that settled and allowed a photo or two. I was also at work in Reepham today and saw my first orange-tip butterflies of the year, but unfortunately I was not equipped with my camera, nor was I fast enough to follow them!
I have also been on the lookout for frogspawn, but have failed to find any as yet. About a month ago, we saw a huge number of common frogs mating in the side-shoots from the river Wensum that runs through our local patch, so I'm remaining hopeful that we might find some soon.
All of a sudden, the trees seem to be full of grey squirrels, and they are certainly not being shy or retiring! Everywhere we look there seem to be squirrels performing acrobatics and generally being loud and boisterous. One stayed still just long enough for a photo.
Even more local, in our car park, a collared dove seems to have picked the most exposed place to build a nest, in the fork of a rather bare birch tree, and right at the entrance to the car park... She's been incubating for over a week now, so hopefully we'll have some cute and fluffy chicks soon.
I had a few other sightings on our walk yesterday, and another first for the year; a large white butterfly, Pieris brassicae, that settled and allowed a photo or two. I was also at work in Reepham today and saw my first orange-tip butterflies of the year, but unfortunately I was not equipped with my camera, nor was I fast enough to follow them!
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| Large white butterfly |
I have also been on the lookout for frogspawn, but have failed to find any as yet. About a month ago, we saw a huge number of common frogs mating in the side-shoots from the river Wensum that runs through our local patch, so I'm remaining hopeful that we might find some soon.
All of a sudden, the trees seem to be full of grey squirrels, and they are certainly not being shy or retiring! Everywhere we look there seem to be squirrels performing acrobatics and generally being loud and boisterous. One stayed still just long enough for a photo.
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| Grey squirrel |
Even more local, in our car park, a collared dove seems to have picked the most exposed place to build a nest, in the fork of a rather bare birch tree, and right at the entrance to the car park... She's been incubating for over a week now, so hopefully we'll have some cute and fluffy chicks soon.
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| Collared dove nest |
Spring at School
Staying on the theme of nests, I have some very good news about our school bird box. We've been watching the blue tits hopping in and out, beginning to build then changing their minds about what to use, and now, finally, we can see the fruits of their labour. There are at least six eggs in their nest as of today, much to my excitement, and to the excitement of some of my year 12s who were in school revising. The female is not yet incubating, so I'm hopeful that she will lay more, and I am equally hopeful that we will not miss too much over the next week of the holiday!
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