Author Topic: Signs of Spring  (Read 208844 times)

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #425 on: 15 March, 2012, 10:56:05 pm »
There was pussy willow in flower today. I also heard a chiffchaff.
Also saw pussy willow in flower on yesterday's ride. I would have expected ours to be a week or so later than yours. What's going on?

No chiffchaffs yet, though. But the song thrushes have rediscovered the art of improvisation. Magnificent ;D .

Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #426 on: 15 March, 2012, 11:09:52 pm »
There was pussy willow in flower today. I also heard a chiffchaff.
Also saw pussy willow in flower on yesterday's ride. I would have expected ours to be a week or so later than yours. What's going on?

No chiffchaffs yet, though. But the song thrushes have rediscovered the art of improvisation. Magnificent ;D .

I think these things vary unpredictably. This is the first time I've ridden along that road this year. I can't think of any pussy willow on my usual rides and walks.

In our local park, the daffodils still aren't out properly. There's a few, but the bulk of the beds have bent heads turning yellow. They'll be out in force next week.

We also saw celandines and violets.
Quote from: Dez
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Snakehips

  • Twixt London and leafy Surrey
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #427 on: 16 March, 2012, 10:20:41 pm »
An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur?

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #428 on: 18 March, 2012, 10:05:16 am »
A young hedgehog in the garden yesterday. The first one I've seen this year.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #429 on: 18 March, 2012, 11:21:45 am »
Tadpoles! Every year I see frogspawn in Priory Park, but rarely do I see any tadpoles. There was one clump of spawn with very small black tadpoles hanging onto it, occasionally giving an experimental wriggle.

The clump of spawn in a different bit of the very slow-fowing stream looks OK with its black dots ceasing to be full stops and now changing into commas. Hopefully there will be a crop of tadpoles to watch throughout the summer!
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Snakehips

  • Twixt London and leafy Surrey
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #430 on: 20 March, 2012, 10:10:50 pm »
The Barnes Wetlands Centre are reporting Sand Martin sightings !
Seems a bit early.



Chasing Rainbows - Paying homage to the much loved vintage bicycle poster
An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur?

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Signs of Spring
« Reply #431 on: 20 March, 2012, 10:23:28 pm »
Many lambs seen this morning. Many.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

simonp

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #432 on: 20 March, 2012, 11:33:51 pm »
Cat brought in a sign of spring:

(admin note: image is a bit gross)
(click to show/hide)

Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #433 on: 21 March, 2012, 11:01:11 am »
The horse chestnut buds have burst.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #434 on: 21 March, 2012, 09:22:37 pm »
Cat brought in a sign of spring:

(admin note: image is a bit gross)
(click to show/hide)

I'm not sure it is so much a sign of spring but a sign that some as yet unidentified rodent has had babies in mai shed. It is a bit big for a newborn mouse so I'm thinking I will name it Roland.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #435 on: 22 March, 2012, 07:36:50 am »
Cowslips on the railway banks :).
Quote from: Kim
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lou boutin

  • Les chaussures sont ma vie.
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #436 on: 22 March, 2012, 08:26:15 am »
I've come across two early bumble bee queens, sadly both were dead :-(.  So we've set up a few more bubble bee hides and feeders.

jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #437 on: 22 March, 2012, 09:05:30 am »
Cowslips on the railway banks :).

were the cows tongues on the railway track?

IGMC,quickly

Wowbagger

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Signs of spring
« Reply #438 on: 22 March, 2012, 12:03:14 pm »
Although I am aware that such things happen, I was not really prepared for the marvel of a sow giving birth (warning: unpleasant content)
(click to show/hide)
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #439 on: 22 March, 2012, 07:55:16 pm »
Spat out the first inhaled insect of the year.  ::-)
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #440 on: 23 March, 2012, 12:16:13 pm »
Lots of wriggling tadpoles in Priory Park this morning. Still very tiny and lodged in large numbers on the remains of the decaying spawn, but normally Priory Park tadpoles don't make it that far. Most years, the spawn just doesn't hatch.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #441 on: 23 March, 2012, 09:59:48 pm »
Wood anemones are flowering enough to see from a passing bike. Chiffchaffs are singing in Warwickshire (well a couple anyway). There are celandines everywhere, except, oddly, my favourite bit of roadside verge, which had nary a flower - presumably all over by now.

Lots of cyclists in shorts, though no-one else in sandals yet.

Yesterday we walked through a veritable carpet of primroses in Packwood churchyard. Also I encountered my first wasp, which seemed fascinated by my glasses. It seemed prudent to remove the spectacles so that I could watch the insect at arm's length, even if it was rather blurred.

Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #442 on: 24 March, 2012, 05:10:05 am »
Significant dawn chorus at 4.55 today.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

lou boutin

  • Les chaussures sont ma vie.
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #443 on: 25 March, 2012, 04:44:03 pm »
The ducks are courting
 

Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #444 on: 25 March, 2012, 06:55:57 pm »
There are still tadpoles in the park. They are about a centimetre long and wriggling.

This is the best they've done for years.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #445 on: 25 March, 2012, 08:38:08 pm »
bluebells in the chilterns were coming into flower  :)
the slower you go the more you see

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #446 on: 27 March, 2012, 12:07:08 pm »
I've been seeing magnolias in full bloom all over the place lately. Slightly on the early side?

Our bluebells aren't out yet though.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #447 on: 27 March, 2012, 01:26:25 pm »
I saw a small number of bluebells in flower yesterday, but the massed ranks were nowhere near flowering.

There was some very spectacular activity at a badgers' sett.

Today, in the park, I saw quite a few tadpoles wriggling about.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #448 on: 27 March, 2012, 08:12:39 pm »
Spotted a solitary cowslip on a sunny verge today. It may have to wait a wee while before it's pollinated.

On arriving home was greeted by the sight of 2 butterflies at roof height behaving as though they were about to procreate. Absolutely impossible to identify species from below, just dark silhouettes against a bright sky. I suppose that rules out Brimstones, but not a lot else.

Yesterday's ride revealed the first bluebells - 2 weedy looking specimens in a very sheltered sunny hedge bottom.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #449 on: 28 March, 2012, 07:56:50 pm »
More butterflies today.

The easy one was a brimstone.

The dubious one was probably a peacock, which flew off from the sunnier side of the road as I approached. I though I saw an "eye" during its departure. Not entirely implausible, since I photographed one less than a km away in mid-April 2007.

There were a few medium brown jobs as well.

The weedy bluebells spotted on Monday had been joined by quite a few more robust specimens - roughly 5 per 10m of hedgebank. They're still a long way from carpeting the woodland floor, though - I'd guess 1-2 weeks, assuming we don't get a seriously cold spell.