One thing I love about nature is the unexpected and, walking out onto the reserve yesterday I was thrilled to see nodding pink candelabras of one of my favourite flowers, Lady's Smock (also known as Cuckoo Flower) along the path sides and in the meadow – all we need now are the orange tip butterflies that feed on them!
Equally exciting is our sand martin wall, which is now just days away form being finished, just in time for (hopefully) the returning hordes to take up residence (as soon as this northerly wind changes). The view below gives you an idea of how the finished wall will look, once the rest of the holes are rendered and the roof is on. The ground in front of it will be removed in the next day or so, to enable the water to lap at the base of the wall, and the final colour will be a little darker that shown. You can see the texture being formed in the front to give it that natural feel and the soil either side will be graded onto the wall so that it looks natural, and we will take the opportunity to incorporate hibernacula for reptiles and amphibians at the same time - why have one species in residence when you can have several!