No Butterflies But Plenty To See

How our wildlife is managing to carry on regardless of the shocking weather is beyond me. Cold winds and heavy rain most days - it is most disheartening for me as a human, even  with cold and wet weather clothing to assist me and a centrally heated home to go back to.

These Brown Hares were looking bedraggled to say the least.

Seen through a hedge, three Brown Hares

One of them ran across the track in front of me,

but it soon went back again 😂

The weather is way too cold to attract butterflies to come out and play, and sure enough I haven't seen a butterfly for ages!

I hear Song Thrush singing every morning, come rain or shine, and it does lift your spirits when you hear a song as lovely as that.

Song Thrush

 Walking past the fields south of Heslop's I noticed a single Pink-footed Goose with the Greylags, Canadas and Mute Swans. Time it wasn't here I reckon.

Pink-footed Goose

I walked along the Trans Pennine Trail to Great Hatfield this morning, returning via Goxhill to the south side of the Mere. Plenty of warblers around and nice to see and hear a few Whitethroats in the hedgerows. I got a few distant pics of Whitethroat but they were very flighty. They will settle down after a week or so.

Distant first Whitethroat pic of the year

 I heard my first Reed Warbler of the year in first field reed bed, but no sighting. Sedge Warblers, Cetti's Warblers and Reed Buntings were keeping it company in the mid-morning chorus.

Cowslips are beginning to appear along the roadside verges and footpaths, adding to the profusion of mainly yellow flowers this time of year. Apparently the Cowslip is used to make a very potent country wine!? More research needed here 😉

Cowslip (Primula veris)

In the middle of a (very) wet meadow I saw my first Cuckoo flower of the year too. 

Cuckoo flower (Cardamine pretensis)

The cuckoo flower is allegedly  either named after the bird (that sings during April and May when the flower is out) or from cuckoo-spit - the foamy substance that is sometimes seen on the leaves or stem (which has nothing to do with cuckoos but is actually produced by Froghopper nymphs). Either way, the flower is a delicate and beautiful sight.

As we are due to move soon and will lose the lovely view that we have at the back of the house over open fields and hedgerows, I thought I'd finish this post on a self-indulgent note by putting up some pics taken yesterday...

First of a few Roe Deer that are seen daily browsing among the crops.

The view

The deer

Close up of the deer

Later in the day a fox ran up the far side of the field and briefly thought about sneaking up on the geese. The geese convinced it not to be so silly and it ran off.

Fox and geese

Fox having second thoughts, but ran off anyway

Inside the house, the Sundew plant we have in the conservatory (thanks Nick!) was treated to a nice fat fly and soon wrapped it up in order to ingest the goodness.

Sundew feast

We don't have a conservatory at the house we are moving to, so I hope the Sundew thrives as well on a window cill as it has in the glass house 🤞