One great aspect about visiting a local spot throughout the year is that you can really see how the seasons change month by month. Yesterday in the heat of the afternoon I went for a walk around Wybunbury Moss and it was very much in its spring prime with the birds singing, the flowers blooming and the butterflies flitting about. This was in great contrast to my visit in December when the first snow of the winter had fallen, as the two photos below demonstrate…

Despite the heat, the birds were really were singing loudly and I managed to record nearly 30 species including plenty of summer migrants; willow warbler, chiffchaff, sedge warbler, whitethroat and swallow. There were also signs of the first young of the year with a family band of long-tailed tits flying along a headline and a great spotted woodpecker feeding noisy chicks in their nest hole.

The walk yesterday was perfect spring stroll in a lovely spot full of signs of the season on the type of day I long for on the cold, short winter days.

After a mild autumn, the last few days have shown winter is not far off. With strong winds and rain lasting for several days, winter showed an early hand with a scattering of hail and sleet yesterday. Being stuck inside doing work this weekend didn’t seem so bad with the weather so awful. However, with the closing of my laptop came some brief sunshine. I took the opportunity to go for a short walk around Wybunbury Moss before the darkness drew in.

The scenery around the Moss is certainly now more wintery than autumnal. Most of the trees and hedgerows are now bare but for a last few oak leaves barely clinging on. The grass is fading away from its lush green and is now more waterlogged than usual, following the recent rains.

The wildlife is also more of the colder months with the redwings and fieldfares moving through and finches and starlings flocking in the fields. The sounds of the spring and summer months have long gone and a silence is falling upon the meadows and trees. I heard a true winter sound from the Moss itself – the staccato, tinkling whistles of teal, gathering to spend the season in amongst the small pools in the Moss-side woodland.

With the darkest days of the year to come, those summer months seem a long way off.

On the way home from doing a bird survey this morning, I went for a walk around Wybunbury Moss. It’s a few weeks since I paid one of my regular visits and, at last, spring is really is starting to show.

Getting out of my car, the first sign was the sound of a chiffchaff letting out its distinctive call from high up in a nearby tree.  To me these diminutive little birds are a clear sign that the season has turned; some are long distance migrants while others stay and overwinter here, but when they start signing I feel spring really has arrived.

Heading up into the church yard, the daffodils are out in full bloom, their heads being buffeted in the increasing breeze.  Other birds are starting to make themselves heard, with greenfinches, goldfinches and gold crests all singing in the trees.

Walking around the outside of the Moss, other plants are showing their first growth of the year. Leaves are coming out on the hawthorn hedges and brambles bushes, dandelions are unfurling their first flowers, nettles are sprouting, the gorse is well out in bloom and the catkins are opening on the willows.

On the far side of the Moss, circling up in the strong winds, was a foursome of buzzards, calling and playing in the rushing air.  There was also a busy movement of jackdaws, crows and magpies all around the area as they prepare for breeding season.

However, the spring is yet to be in full swing; others are missing and yet to arrive.  The great movement inwards of our summer visitors has yet to really be felt but over the next few days and weeks, the woodlands, fields and hedges will welcome a great influx of avian life bring the spring to its rapturous heights.