Bunnies and Bee flies

We've had a lovely spell of weather this last week and its really brought all the plants on. The hawthorn hedges are greening up, the trees leaves are unfurling and woodlands are carpeted with the rich green leaves of the wild garlic whose scent fills the air and makes you really, really, really fancy some garlic bread. The wood anemones and wild sorrel are flowering and their delicate starry flowers nod by roadsides and in woods. I read it takes around 100 years for wood anemones to spread by 7ft so we must have some ancient woodlands in the Forest of Bowland. Out and about we saw a flock of thirty Whimbrel feeding by Bleasdale Cottages and at home we have been delighted by a Bee fly feeding on our Primulas. Every where is full of new life, there are baby rabbits in the fields, ducklings on the ponds and lots of tadpoles wriggling about in the ponds. Marvellous.

Swallows and Buttterflies

On Thursday evening around 8 pm, at least 50 Swallows flew over the house, we  hoped ours were back and would be in the barn by morning, but they all seem to have gone down to the farmyard to feed after their long journey. At least they are back. On Saturday I saw this battered looking Peacock butterfly in the garden, it must have just come out of hibernation, it seems incredible it has survived. In the hedgerows the Hawthorn leaves are starting to show a lovely refreshing green.

The swallows are back in Dunsop, the ponds are full of frogspawn and I saw my first butterfly, a Small Tortoiseshell on 7th April and my first Bumble Bee yesterday and the weather was sunny and warm. We have still got the Reed Bunting in the garden so food must still be scarce. Barrie had a lovely encounter with a Hare it  ran straight up the slope towards him and didn't notice him till it was about four feet away ,stopped and sniffed and then ran off.

Lots of frogspawn in local ponds.

This Robin is always going into the shed where it knows we store seed.We think it even sleeps in here.

The improvement in the weather has not mirrored an improvement in the birds tempers. The cock pheasants are crowing and wing beating in the garden. They comically chase each other around the garden, hiding behind bushes, unwilling to leave the bird food. A white cock pheasant is confusing them all, they don't know whether to display at it or chase it off and it makes the most of things by not really acting like a male, just eating. It doesn't really act like a hen bird either as hens are too nervous to come into the garden  hiding instead in the field edges. The squirrels tempers are fraying too, they're chasing across the lawn and having lightning fast wrestling matches.
In the fields we still have flocks of Redwings, Fieldfares and Starlings. On Sunday all the trees around the house were full of Starlings chattering. The last few days of slightly milder and sunny weather has greened the grass up and the lambs are growing really fast. The buzzards regularly fly over making their mewing calls, I don't know if  buzzards eat squirrels, but I think the squirrels do as they tend to hide if they hear the buzzards. On the upland fields there are plenty of Lapwings and the Curlews are calling and displaying, windsurfing down to the ground. On Sunday I saw my first butterfly, a Small Tortoiseshell and watched a female Pied Wagtail being fed by a male,who was trying to prove what a great Dad he would make.

Reed Bunting that dropped by for some bird seed.

These too like to sleep on the lane.

Primroses by the stream.

Snow and birds

Now that the bitter wind has dropped it's quite pleasant to go for a walk even though the snows still falling. It must be very confusing and stressful for the birds though, who are still visiting the feeders in large numbers but at the same time becoming more territorial and less tolerant. We have about a dozen chaffinches, four robins, eight blackbirds and numerous coal, blue and great tits and the occasional nuthatch visiting. We are also still getting a flock of about a dozen Long Tailed tits. In the fields there are often about twenty to thirty Lapwings feeding alongside pairs of Curlews and hares. Yesterday we were inundated with a flock of about 600-800 starlings who took off and swooped and dived above us as we drove past. The hedgehog that was hibernating has woken up with a cold and is in a pile of straw under the stairs sneezing and eating lots of cat food. It must have heard the old saying starve a fever feed a cold. This weather must really be catching a lot of wildlife out if they come out of hibernation and they can't find any food.

Frosty mornings and tetchy birds

Frosty mornings have led on into sunny days with bright blue skies. It might be cold but at least the hard ground is easier to walk on. Everywhere you look the fields are full of molehills and the farmers are out rolling the fields to flatten them as well as muckspreading. The waders are all back in force with the rich song of curlews floating on the air as they display overhead. Flocks of lapwings feed on the fields along with gulls, oystercatchers and starlings who gather in the trees like Christmas decorations chattering away before all taking off at once to resume feeding. The woods are full of birdsong too as the birds seek to establish their territories and truces that held overwinter are disintergrating. Chaffinches engage in amazing aerial battles rising up in the air wings beating furiously. Male blackbirds drag each other across the lawn and robins vie for the highest position to display from, chest out, beak and tail pointing skywards, and if that doesn't work engaging in really vicious battles. Hares are easier to spot now while the grass is still short and a friend was lucky enough to watch a boxing bout, wish I'd been there. Lambing has started in earnest and hopefully the weather will soon get milder for them.

Couldn't resist drawing these two.

Waders are back.

The lapwings are back! We saw at least a dozen of them feeding on the fields that have been recently muckspread. We also have seen pairs of oystercatchers feeding in the fields too. The buzzards are very vocal at the minute and we often see a pair wheeling and calling above us when we are out in the garden. We keep hoping they'll nest nearby.We heard our first Curlew yesterday, it's the best sound ever, the sound of spring! Barrie has  made and put up some birdboxes around the garden, we've seen the Coal Tits, Great Tits and Nuthatch inspect them but not go in. We've had plenty of sunny and sometimes very warm days when we've been able to get out in the garden  and get plenty done. The greenhouse we got for £20 is up and already has my cowslip, ox-eye daisy, teasel and ragged robin seedlings  in there enjoying the extra warmth. I made some coldframes from old windows we saw being replaced from a house we were driving past and some old bricks that were lying around in the garden.  I've filled some old tractor tyres with well rotted manure and molehills I've collected and can't wait for the soil to warm up so I can get sowing. Inside my broad beans, leeks and spring onions have all sprouted and I have one lonely cauliflower seedling. The leeks are that beautiful vivid green colour of fresh new leaves in spring so lovely to see after the drabness of winter.