With spring upon us, our reserves are bursting into life. Taking a walk in the sunshine last week, I was stopped by the sound of loud buzzing. Looking up I discovered the source was an array of industrious honeybees, bumblebees and hoverflies busily collecting pollen and nectar from the pussy willow. Red admiral, comma, small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies were patrolling along the hedges, lured out of hibernation with the warmth and I spotted my first lizard of the year amongst the bug pits.
Pussy willow - a welcome food source for emerging insects.
Stopping by the pond I found a newt rising to the surface to bask in the sunshine, water boatmen sculling across trying to avoid the crazy whirligig beetles and the first pond skaters were waiting patiently for anything unfortunate enough to fall in unable to escape. As I watched, water beetles arrived, literally diving into the water and swimming rapidly into the murky depths.
Lesser celandine has been springing up all over bringing a gorgeous splash of yellow and the trees are awakening from their slumber with the oak and hazel starting to unfurl their leaves.
Lesser celandine unfurls its pretty flowers in the morning and closes them again at dusk.
Oak leaves starting to unfurl.
Meanwhile in the Visitor Centre, we have been watching the progress of our nesting blue tits. We have a live feed to the nest box and they have been busy bringing in material. However, they are a little fussy and seem to take out almost as much as they put in! That said it’s now looking rather cosy, particularly since they lined it with the alpaca wool we put out in a feeder. Hopefully they will soon start to lay.
Our little celebrity 02/04/16
Looking cosy 11/04/16
As well as keeping an on our blue tits, we have also been observing the Loch Garten ospreys and the Chichester peregrines, who are currently sitting on four eggs.