Will the real Sping please step forward !

What constitutes if spring is finally here, is to me a subjective thing. It cannot be defined by any particular creature or plant being seen, or by any temperature being reached, or a date being passed.

 I saw my first Chiffchaff's on the 29th.On the pool beyond Great Crested Grebes displayed. In the adjacent field there were lambs, and overhead Skylarks sang. The Rooks are in their nests.

 The Morning frosts, and biting easterlies remain, as does snow in many mildly elevated spots. A section of my local wood is filled with Redwings, and the finches are still flocking together.

A visit to the Wyre on the 28th  ,was like a visit in December. Hawfinch and Brambling. Snow lying where a sloughing Adder should. Not a Bee or Brimstone to be seen.



Brambling, Wyre, 28th March

At Grimley, Little Egret and Redshank advanced the year list, who knows when and if the Wheatears will be gracing the local Plough.

I chanced upon my first proper invert on the 30th, excited for a minute it was a Bee, until I got closer..I had to start off somewhere, and given the conditions, I will settle for a Drone Fly.

Drone Fly

If you walk enough, you always find something of interest, if you have a keenness for anything nature. Yesterday, on a birdless and ever greying afternoon I stumbled upon what appears to be raptor pellets. Poking around a found a couple of skull pieces too. In itself that was enough to tip the mood, I'm hopeful they could belong to a Tawny Owl. As I picked through I disturbed a Common Earwig. Much maligned, and under recorded creatures, and together with the numerous small spiders on the dead bracken, a sign further sign that the inverts are trying their best to add the missing pieces.

Pellets, at base of tree

Common Earwig

 

Let's hope for everyones sake, not least the local nature, that things pick up soon