Thursday 24 February 2011

Turned out nice... at last

Yay, the first sign of spring for me is the blooming Coltsfoot - late this year, of course, but as we've had a run of south-westerlies in February I think that the season will catch up this year.

Yew are blooming too, the male flowers above on one tree, and the green female ones on the next tree. How romantic - standing side by side but destined never to touch. The female flowers are on the stem, by the way, and the flower-like growth at the tip is a Yew Gall Midge gall (Taxomyia taxi - thanks Claire!)

In the depths of the wood the slow-growing Butcher's Broom's tiny flowers briefly show, then if fertilised turn into ripe red berries.
The bugs were out today and I think this might be a solitary wasp - perhaps one of the multi-talented pan-listers can help?

Oare was lovely in the afternoon sunshine in good company - nothing special to be seen, but a Merlin and a Little Owl were perched on a bank, 119 Avocets swept the shallows of the creek, a Little Egret waded in a roadside pool and Golden Plovers glowed in the sun.

1 comment:

Greenie said...

Steve ,
Pleased you were able to enjoy today's sunshine as well .
Always nice to see the vibrant yellow of the Coltsfoot .
As you say , those Plovers lived up to their name .