April dawns and the start of the summer survey season. So taking advantage of the good weather I did my first survey walk of the local patch this week.
There was plenty of activity in the gardens and I was thrilled to see a freshly emerged male Red Mason Bee. Unfortunately it did not hang around long enough to let me take its picture. Also present in the gardens were a number of Banded Hoverflies plus Chocolate Mining Bee, Tapered Drone flies, Hairy-footed Flower Bee and a Buff-tailed Bumble bee.
I also heard the first singing Blackcap in the garden this year. These are summer visitors and so it is good to know that they are back.
Moving onto the Tarn, there was quite a lot of territorial arguments going on amongst the geese, especially two pairs of Egyptian Geese. A couple of Coot nests are already occupied. 3 Butterflies of 3 different species were seen, a male Brimstone, a Speckled Wood and a female Orange-Tip. the scrub surrounding the Tarn used to be a stronghold for Orange-Tip but the management of scrub clearance in recent years seems to have taken its toil on this species here and they are now only seen in small numbers each year.
I found this attractive flower in one of the flower beds. It is Snake’s head Fritillary.
I have walked past this tree hundred’s of times but today I stopped and had a good look and thought it looked just like something out of Harry potter or some similar tale.
Pete's Favourite Things 