It’s been a pretty poor spring so far with the weather being cold and often very wet. Today, despite the forecast we decided to head out to Badby Wood near Daventry to see the bluebells. Were weren’t disappointed and the damp weather meant that there possible weren’t as many people around as there would have been in bright sunshine.
Here’s a shot of the cathedral-like little valley in the woods, carpeted with bluebells and roofed by the high beams of mature trees with their bright green leaves emerging.
It’s been quite a few weeks since we last went for a country walk. We had to do a few household tasks yesterday, probably made a little less unwelcome by the weather being pretty unpleasant, particularly in the morning. However, waking this morning on what looked like a beautiful spring day, we headed out for a walk around part of Rutland Water.
Since we moved to Northamptonshire three years ago, Rutland is now less than an hour away. We have been to the wildlife trust nature reserve a couple of times over that time but today we decided to do a five mile circuit around the village of Hambleton and the peninsula on which it sits. The whole walk was under a mix of bright sunshine and fluffy spring clouds. The strength of the sun can now be really felt, being towards the end of March, but as soon as cloud covered it over, even fleetingly, there was still a chill in the air, especially out in the brisk wind.
There were signs of spring all along the walk: in the fields, along the hedgerows, in the woods and along the shoreline. There are new lambs in the fields, hawthorns are now coming out into leaf and the blackthorn into blossom, and there are migrant birds starting to appear and sing.
I would like to pay a little more attention to the wild flowers this spring and there were plenty on the walk. There were delicate primroses in amongst the trees and celandines on the grass verges in addition to the blossom in the hedgerows. There must also be a great display of bluebells in some of the shoreside woodlands as there were big swathes of them bursting up through the leaf litter.
After what was a stunning five-mile walk we headed to the nature reserve. Firstly to look at a possible new purchase; it’s about time I bought a proper wildlife watching telescope and I just wanted another look at one before I take the plunge (possibly). The last visit of the day was to Manton Bay to see the newly arrived ospreys. The established pair have settled in and are already mating regularly, so it might not be long until the first eggs are laid.
This did remind me of one of my old usual spring haunts, at the Glaslyn Wildlife osprey nest protection site near Porthmadog in North Wales. I volunteered there for a number of years, spending quite a few nights but also many days in the old caravan amongst the wet meadows and drystone walk, just a couple of hundred metres from the nest. It was a joyful experience being surrounded by wildlife and helping to protect this beautiful but rare species. I saw this morning that the lucky volunteers no longer have to sit in an old caravan but have a new hide, perched up on stilts to avoid the water from the too often flooding river. The ospreys at the Glaslyn have yet to return this spring but I’ll be keeping an eye out on the webcams over the coming days.
I’ll finish this post with a few images of the lovely spring walk today…
I’m very fortunate to live in a quiet village and even more lucky to have views of the countryside from my home office window (at least when the leaves aren’t on the trees). Working from home yesterday gave me quite a few wildlife sightings without even leaving the house.
Sitting at my desk I saw a small flock of winter-visiting redwings in the paddock opposite as well as the muntjac I now fairly regularly see. There was also a calling green woodpecker in the trees beyond.
In the late afternoon there was a winter visitor to our bird table, a brambling. I very rarely see one of these striking finches but we’ve had one or two visit, staying for a couple of weeks or so, both this winter and last.
As night began to fall, I saw my first bats off the year, racing around the house and trees behind us, where we so often do. Due to there size, they were undoubtedly pipistrelles but I didn’t have my detector out to be able to tell whether they were common or soprano.
A last welcome sight of the day, just before it was time to go to bed, was our first hedgehog of the year. They’ve actually been coming quite regularly to eat in our feeding box over the course of the winter, only missing in the properly cold periods. We’ve caught them on our trailcam a few times but this was the first sight with my own eyes.
The day would have been even better if I’d heard a little owl when I went to stand by my open office window as I went to be but I can’t have everything, I suppose. Last year I didn’t hear them as often as the previous two springs we’ve lived here, so I’m hoping for a bit of a return this year.
I’m working at home again today, so hopefully a bit more wildlife watching from the house.
A Saturday and a Sunday morning spent working and putting together flat-pack furniture wasn’t the most inspiring way to end the week. However, after finishing the same set of bookshelves for the second time, we headed out to one of our closest nature reserves at Pitsford Water reservoir.
While putting my tools away at home, I had felt some early March warmth from the sun peeping out between the clouds. As we left the car and walked down to the water, the cloud dispersed and the sun’s strength was a bit of a surprise after such wet and grey weather recently. The warmth could be felt on our dark clothes being heated by the rays and the hide we went into felt like someone had left some (non-existent) radiators on. With no wind to speak of, and the cloud clearing further, this was a first real taste spring weather, despite the temperature still being some way below 10 degrees celsius.
We decided to head for Pitsford to see what might me a last sight of the wintering wildfowl before many of them head off to breed further north in the UK and a long way beyond. Given the relatively mild (if damp) first part of the year, it wasn’t a surprise to see that wildfowl numbers had already dropped significantly from their mid-winter highs. Pitsford is a winter home to thousands of birds with large numbers of widgeon, teal, mallard and tufted duck as well as a range of other waterbirds.
One of my favourite winter visitors to the reservoir is the splendidly feathered goldeneye – well, at least the male is, with the female being much more drab. They have already started displaying and pairing up, with the males in their finery performing a slightly odd manoeuvre, stretching their necks out and throwing their heads back, with a cartoon-like duck call. A (not very good) video of them doing this is below.
While the weekend is already sadly drawing to a close, our short walk did give me a little pick-me-up before settling in for Sunday dinner (maybe after a run in the last of the sunshine).
We’re lucky to live on a quiet country lane in a village. The fields at the end of the lane do call us on a sunny lunchtime when working from home and we wander down to take a look at the view.
Despite the impression of a lovely warm day in the picture below (taken a few minutes ago) it’s actually quite chilly and blustery today. However, the bright sun does have a sense of the coming spring about it…as did the plump ewes in the fields…
This chap has been singing amongst the leafless limbs of the old oak tree across the road since dawn this morning, and it’s not far of dusk. We haven’t heard much from a song thrush around the house since we moved in two years ago but hoping this one sticks around this spring.
This morning we dropped into the churchyard at Chelveston, near Rushden. We had heard that it’s a great place for snowdrops and aconites, and we weren’t disappointed.
There were great carpets of snowdrops all around the church, and with the sun out and the rooks building nests in the neighbouring trees, it really did seem like spring was finally on its way.
Daft Mumblings 