Weekend flora & fauna

I've been home alone this weekend as Chickpea has gone to spend a few days with her boyfriend. Usually I quite enjoy having the luxury of some time to myself but I'm feeling her absence this time. As well as keeping myself busy with crafting and some necessary housework, I made sure I got out of the house and have been for a couple of walks. Yesterday I walked the path along the golf course and today I spent an hour in the woods. I'm going to leave the photos to speak for themselves.

Blue tit in the bottom left hand corner - I pointed my camera and hoped for the best! I also saw chaffinches and willow warblers but they were both too fast and I came home with lots of photos of empty trees!

Speckled wood

Speckled wood and Small tortoiseshell

I'm pretty sure these are orange mosscaps. The colour was much more vibrant in reality.

No idea what this was but all of them had these dark patches around the edge of the cap.

I also found this pretty little feather. Initially I wondered if it might be from the blue tit but, looking at some photos, I think it may be from a jay - which would be very exciting as I've never seen one around here!

Well, the internet has been driving me crazy while I've been trying to write this, so I'm going to click Publish before it can disappear again! Enjoy the rest of your weekend. x

Weekend walk

It was so lovely at the weekend that I just had to get out into the fresh air. Chickpea is still closeted away working on assignments so I decided to head over for a walk by the local golf course. The course is on the right of the path and there are fields on the left.

The fields were full of birdsong and it wasn't long before I thought I recognised goldfinches. Sure enough, they fluttered back and forth always out of reach of my lens. I eventually managed to catch one, perched on these bare branches.

At the end of the path, I headed up into this overgrown patch of land where I've always had a lot of luck seeing birds and butterflies.

Up past several large patches of comfrey.

 

And a wild rose bush.

As you work your way up, there are open patches filled with flowers and grasses.

Clover was abundant.

And very popular with the bees.

I also later found out it's a favourite of the Latticed Heath moth. This little gem led me a merry dance through the grass before it settled long enough for me to snatch a photo. I've never seen one before so was determined to get a shot so that I could identify it later.

A couple of you have commented that I seem knowledgeable on wildlife. Seem is definitely the correct word. I'm endlessly curious and want to know what I've been looking at so, once home, I pore over my guidebooks and compare them to photos on the internet until I'm pretty sure of the identification. I'm gradually getting better at actually remembering things now.

I didn't need to look far to find out that this is a Cinnabar moth as it's so striking. It was a flash of bright red as it fluttered around.

And I had no problems with this one, a speckled wood, as I've seen so many of them lately. In fact, there was one fluttering around the garden as I started to write this post.

Onwards and upwards, I was heading for a patch of trees where I saw the willow warbler baby birds last year.

No fledglings yet but I did spot mum darting around with insects in her beak so there's a nest somewhere.

I was also rewarded with a small copper. There was a discussion on the radio last week about people being afraid of butterflies! I can't imagine being afraid of something so beautiful. Spiders yes, butterflies no!

All too soon it was time to head home but as I glanced under the trees I spotted something purple..

an orchid! Having consulted my favourite English Wild Flowers web site, I think it's a Heath-spotted orchid which is a new species to me!

My little patch had done me proud again. In the immortal words of Arnie, 'I'll be back!' x

Bank holiday woods

As promised, the weather has been fine today so Chickpea and I headed to the woods for a quick walk. It felt much more lush and green since the last time we were there gathering wild garlic, and the tree canopy has started to close over. Chickpea was disappointed that the garlic is now well past its best as she'd been hoping for more of the pesto.

We followed the cobbled path upwards towards the light.

In places it's almost disappeared as the grasses and flowers take over.

Cow parsley, red campion and buttercups - so, so pretty.

Emerging at the top is a buttercup-filled field. There's a public footpath past the farm and horses but we were headed back down into the woods.

But not without a last look back at the buttercups before we left.

We were headed to the pond in search of wildlife. We were unlucky though, not a butterfly or dragonfly to be seen.

I did spot a moth which, after trawling through my guidebooks, I think is a Silver-ground carpet.

We were also delighted to see that the iris are in full bloom.

They glowed bright and golden in the sunlight. I don't think they'll last long though. Can you see the dark patches on the iris on the left - they were covered in tiny snails.

The other flower in full bloom was Common bistort.

The bees absolutely loved it. I'm hoping one of you can tell me what these two varieties are.

As we headed back, we stopped for a paddle. I think this was my favourite moment - it was so calm and peaceful stood in the middle of the stream with the sound of the water trickling over the pebbles, the birdsong and the cool scent of damp greenery.

All too soon though, we had to make tracks but not before a Speckled wood butterfly finally made an appearance. There's always something to see and discover in what's really a very small patch of woodland.

Last but not least, and hot off the camera, the first clematis flower of the season has opened. Seems a nice way to end a bank holiday :) x