With such a dire spring so far they are almost no blooms out on the reserve at the moment. Coltsfoots is flowering in one or two places (especially on the Aveley Pool central bund) and is a welcome splash of yellow but there is only a few timid flowers from the Self Heal around the woodland edges and the two Tortoiseshells and Red Admiral that we saw yesterday will have been struggling to find nectar. We saw one or two bees as well but no beeflies as yet.

Coltsfoot (by me)

Small Tort (Neil Phillips)

14-4-13