nature man: 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.