Spring Sunshine

What a fantastic weeks weather we are having,the spring flowers are in full bloom ,the bees are busy,nesting birds are laying eggs ,the spiders and flies are emerging ,at nights moths are fluttering by the lights ,butterflies are mating and laying eggs ,sand martins are back, with just one swallow seen so far.

Today's blog is all about two adventures on following days,with a guided walk in between ,on my first trip out i was joined by my young daughter Shannon she is only six but is already following in her dads footsteps, knowing well over 40 plants as well as butterflies and insects ,we went to a shallow reservoir bank the water is only between 12" and 18"deep so we where quite safe, the frogs and toads were all busty mating, with some poor females carrying up to 4 males on there backs the frogs,toads here seem to be laying spawn later than so many other places with tadpoles reported in many lakes and ponds locally already,if you see what you think is a frog or a toad a easy way to tell as they move is that frogs jump and toads prefer to walk the toads also have warty skin and lay their eggs in ribbons while frogs its more bunched together in lumps of jelly.

mating toads
From the toads and frogs we moved round to some small trees that Shannon rightly identified as Ash trees with there black coloured buds.

Ash trees buds
Dropping down to the waters edge again we came across a small vole nest, the occupier was not keen to come and show himself though the dry reservoir banks are home to hundreds of voles and mice and is a favourite hunting spot of both barn and tawny owls.

vole nest
As well as the voles and mice the banks are home to many types of bees,and wasps.A sudden flash of colour caught our eyes and a pair of tortoiseshell butterflies that had overwintered where seen to start breeding the female soon of to lay her eggs on nettles the favourite food plant of the caterpillars .

tortoiseshell butterflies about to mate
All around the reservoir banks are small willow trees and it was on a early flowering one that we got a real surprise, a huge red tail bumble bee Queen starting to fill her pollen baskets on her legs fully four weeks earlier than usually seen.

red tail bumble bee Queen
Shannon found a broken mallard duck egg a casualty of a crow attack.

mallard egg shell
And would you believe it just 50 yards further on a mallard nest with 7 eggs in we marked the area so no one else would disturb the nest and the female mallard made a quick return as we left.

mallard nest
A wonderful walk had come to a end with a last parting picture of a stem of reed mace as the sun came down on a wonderful day.

reed mace

You have probably heard me mention Brock holes Nature Reserve in some of my posts its just off junction 31 off the m6 ,it belongs to Lancashire Wildlife Trusts i will do a full feature in weeks to come ,but it is where i give guided walks. Last Sunday was a glorious day and i had 17 in my party we left at 1.30 pm and got back at 4.30 pm ,in the group were a group of photographers and the day did not let us down with 5 types of butterflies,tortoiseshell,red admiral,peacock,comma and large white,7 kinds of beetles,spiders,caterpillars,animal tracks,a colour explosion of wild flowers in the woodland and a multitude of wild birds.

My second Adventure was down by the River Ribble where i was going to look for something i had not found on that river before,signs of otters,the river is well down for the time of year and as i made my way along its banks the first thing that greeted me was a soap wort plant ,it gets its name because its stem and leaves when crushed and rubbed together makes a natural soap ,its also a good indicator of past dwellings as our ancestors used to grow it in their gardens for this use.

soap wort
Just down the path a lump of dung caught my eye, and a yellow dung fly was busy laying its eggs in the warm sunshine.

yellow dung fly laying eggs
Looking over the bank where the river came from very deep too shallow i was amazed to see a shoal of large carp, meant to be scarce in the river i think there is a lot more than fishermen think ,they where good size fish in to double figures.

shoal of river carp
After much searching i found what i was looking for a clear front right otter track, the other tracks had crumbled in to the sand  there where spoor marks on the rocks close by, my first otter signs on the lower Ribble.

front right otter track
And to finish a couple of pictures to hopefully put a smile on your face.

early horse tail with a camera malfunction.

Shannon with the first gorse bush on the reservoir

sun setting on a perfect day
Next week by the sea side, keep safe and enjoy the early spring time  nature man Andy

Beacon Fell and Boilton Wood

With a heavy frost the night before and a cool Northwesterly breeze i set off for Beacon Fell this morning not knowing what the day might have in store,Beacon Fell is a wonderful family location with plenty of car parking,toilets a cafe and visitor centre plenty for minds both young and old to enjoy, it is well sign posted and when you get there the one way system is easy to follow, car parking all day is just £1 per car.

Once the car was parked i strode off following the path to the summit an early sight was these chewed up fir cones showing that squirrels are active although none where seen.

fir cones eaten by squirrels
The still air was continually interrupted by the noisy cry of male pheasants, these stunning coloured birds are now in full breeding colours, and one that took off from right under my feet ran past showing his full range of golden browns on his flank, and blues and reds on his face with his white marked beady eye plain to see.All around when you looked close in the heather and lower needles in the trees where numbers of the seven spotted ladybirds awake after a long sleep,these wonderfully marked beetles respondent in their red wing cases hiding what ferocious predators they are.

emerging seven spotted lady birds
Another emerging insect was this Queen common wasp ,making her way out of the litter at the base off the tree,she will fly and find a new nest site and in just two months will have a nest of hundreds of fierce predator children hunting for food for the larvae in the nest.

Queen common wasp
A new type of fungi i spotted was the common cavalier only found around conifer and fir trees.

The small pools near the visitor centre where full of frogspawn and as i left Beacon Fell i was left to ponder the local story that at night all the carvings in the wood come to life if they do i would not like to meet this special guardian.

Or the fell troll that buries trees upside down
After leaving Beacon Fell i made my way down to Boilton Wood where i had been asked to identify some newly emerged fungi and upon arrival i was greeted by a magnificent display of late oyster mushrooms this delicious fungi is entering the last few weeks of its season and was on a fallen beech tree.

oyster mushrooms
Seventeen types of fungi where found ,i hope you enjoy some of these pictures.

sulphur tuft

fairies bonnets
As i looked around the wood i spotted another type of ladybird the native orange spot, they where all gathered together newly emerged after their winter sleep to see so many together is unusual.

orange spotted ladybirds
As i made my way out of the woods the floor was carpeted by the yellow Coltsfoot flower and on nearly every flower was some type of fly drawn by the colour and scent of this vibrant flower, in weeks to come i will explain more about this unique partnership from the early spring flowers and insects.

yellow dung fly on coltsfoot
We are now at the spring equinox so the nature will start emerging faster and faster ,the first sand martins have been seen now, so more visitors are due to arrive with the first swallows not far behind ,more next time natureman Andy  

Springtime In March

The last week has seen more signs of springtime with flowers and insects starting to emerge for their first taste of the ever warming sun ,the birds are belting out a ever louder dawn chorus and pairs of swirling and acrobatic finches,sparrows and tits are commonplace in the gardens and parks,a real reminder of winter just passed was the discovery of a young swans remains ,a victim of the cold snap we had in February

young swans remains

This young swan was one of 7 reared last year the others and mum and dad migrated successfully and the parent birds have just returned to hopefully have another good breeding season,early last week during a wood time walk i came across a path of very early bluebells their blue trumpet shaped flowers heralding the arrival of spring time telling all the other flowers its time to awake, also spotted where two early wood anemone's

early bluebells

wood anemone's

The early emergence of these spring flowers usually means that the first bumble bees will not be far behind, and sure enough over the next three hours i spotted 5 large queen bumble bees that had emerged from their winter sleeping quarters, the bees spotted were buff tailed and white tailed with a solitary wood bee queen much smaller than the others .These early queens must feed hard and fast as they then find a suitable nest to lay their first eggs and the food that they gather in the early days will provide nutrition for the worker bees that will emerge from the first eggs, the queen will then let the workers look after her and the nest while she concentrates on egg laying i will go in to more details about bees in future posts.

queen buff tail bumble bee

much smaller early bumble bee queen

another wonderful early sign of spring is the emergence of butterflies that have hibernated over the winter here is one of the three i have seen so far a tortoiseshell that was sunning itself

tortoiseshell butterfly

i also came across a tree that had been recently marked by a large badger

badger scratches sharpening claws and marking territory

my final pictures are of a native orange ladybird that was seeking out early sun rays and a wonderful vibrant yellow gorse that looked magnificent in the sunshine.

native orange lady bird

yellow gorse
more next week as i go for a walk round beacon fell, enjoy all the early springtime wildlife and keep your eyes open for queen bees   nature man  Andy

A Touch Of Spring

With the warmer weather over the last week a gentle touch of spring seems to be in the air,in the early morning dawn hours the birds are singing with renewed vigour ,blackbirds,song thrushes and great tits sounds filling the still air ,in the fields locally the lapwings have started their diving acrobatic displays looking for a mate and establishing territories,more and more flies are hatching and the frogs and toads have woken from their winters sleep.Owls are finding food available more easily as this recent owl pellet shows

owl pellet showing small shrew bones

Owls are not able to digest bones and fur so they regurgitate these up in the form of pellets you can find these under gate,fence posts and solitary trees with a wide view of the lying land these places are where the owl will watch for signs of life before setting off on his silent hunt.

early hover fly on colts foot

The early spring flowers are now coming out in force,most of them you will notice are yellow the reason being that flies see this colour differently to us, the colour they see makes the flowers stand out and they know there is a source of food for them.

lesser celandine

wild primrose

other flowers seen where dandelion,buttercup,dog mercury and daisy,all these providing early nectar for all species of flies,that in turn means the spiders are emerging to feast on this early bounty


early orb spider in the centre of the pic

Another wonderful find was a moth cocoon at the base of a small ash tree the pupae concealed in a web of hair that the caterpillar had weaved before pupating.


moth cocoon

Not all animals and birds made it through the winter though i also came across the sad sight of a swan skeleton that had perished in the cold months.More of this and more about early spring in my next post see you soon and happy nature watching Natureman Andy.