Of course everyone knows that the Move's song Flowers In The Rain was the first song to be played on Radio 1 when it launched in 1967, but as I was photographing lots of flowers recently the song came to mind - with an appropriate change of lyrics. With just one day's rain in the last month we could do with a good load of precipitation to freshen things up a bit.
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| A lovely display of Cowslips (Primula veris) |
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| Garlic Mustard and Red Campion |
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| Close up of Garlic Mustard (Allaria petiolata) |
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| Bluebells and Wood Anemone |
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| Bluebells and Wood Anemone |
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| Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) |
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| White Dead-nettle (Lamium album) and Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis arvensis) |
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| Honesty (Lunaria annua) |
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| Green Alkanet ((Pentaglottis sempervirens) |
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| Close up of Green Alkanet |
Green Alkanet is not a native plant, it was introduced in the early 18th century and once it got a foothold it didn't go away. It is a difficult plant to get rid of (like dandelions, they have a deep tap root) but growing wild it is a plant that looks good and is very good for pollinators - so it's on my list of keepers if I find it in my garden.
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| Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis) |
The only plant that I photographed that looked as though it had been rained on! Also called Lady's Smock, Cuckoo Flower is common in wet meadows. It is edible and the leaves can be used in salads as a substitute for watercress.
Apart from the sudden uprising of wild flowers in almost every corner of the town, what else grabbed my attention?
The relatively sudden increase in numbers of Great Crested Grebe is noteworthy. After seeing single birds over the last 18 months it is great to be seeing up to seven of these birds now. Why they were absent for so long is a mystery and why they are back in good numbers is also a mystery. Answers on the back of a £10 note please 😂
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| Great Crested Grebes on the Mere |
I am also seeing more Gadwall than usual - at least I can check on numbers of this bird by interrogating our records on BirdTrack to see if I'm imagining an increase or not. It's a good looking duck with both males and females having something to commend them.
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| Drake Gadwall |
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| Female Gadwall |
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| Gadwalls in flight |
Sedge Warblers have arrived in very good numbers too, with a maximum count of 15 yesterday morning.
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| Sedge Warbler | | |
Whitethroats have also started arriving and are being seen and heard in the hedgerows around the Mere.
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| Whitethroat |
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| Whitethroat |
As Great Crested Grebes have come back to us, so have Little Egrets. We had them every day a few years ago but they didn't visit the Mere very often while the water level was high, but now it is low enough for them to land and hunt for food we are seeing them daily once again.
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| Little Egret on the Mere south side |
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| Little Egret and two Shelduck |
Lapwings are few and far between this year...
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| Spot the Lapwing |
Finally what of the butterflies? a week or so go they were seen quite often in sunny places but they have gone to ground recently. Maybe it is still a tad cold with the easterlies, but from tomorrow it is going to be hot, hot, hot so they should be out then.
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| Seldom seen underside of Speckled Wood butterfly |
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| Usual view of Speckled Wood |
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