Lots more signs of spring today with the most
obvious being me having a sun burnt face (although that doesn’t take too much).
A Brimstone butterfly was my first flutterby of the year and an adder my first
reptile. Chaffinches have also arrived with singing birds at four sites and
Hawfinches and Blackbirds seemed suddenly more numerous.
I have taken the Beast on post-lunch walks in
Maridalen the last two days which has been surprisingly successful and I have
even been able to take photos which bodes well. Although the lake is still
frozen there is enough open water where the two rivers flow in for there now to
be waterfowl with Whooper Swans, Canada and Greylag Geese, Mallard and
Goldeneye proudly proclaiming that winter is over. The fields are still deep in
snow and there are not even small snow free areas for Snow Buntings yet but
there should be by next week. On south facing banks though the snow has melted
and this is where I saw the adder which showed really well and even slithered
from a rock and over some branches above the ground as though it was a tree
snake.
Some interesting behaviour, which I have observed
once before and in exactly the same trees, was a flock of Waxwings eating bark,
lichen and sap from the branches of trees. They must be quite desperate for
food at this stage of the spring with no berries left and insects which are
there summer food not yet available and lichen seems to be enough to get them
by.
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| here the Waxwings (sidensvans) seem to be taking sap |
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| the left bird is picking at lichen |
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| this one is picking at bark |
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| this one is picking at moss |
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| Long-tailed Tit (stjertmeis) |
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| adder (hoggorm) |
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