Thursday..
The longed-for Spring totters in like a tired geriatric, rather than striding in like
a robust adolescent.
Plants are growing , but very slowly. The cow-parsley and nettles are at least five inches tall in places, and at least the daffodils are now well out, and today's sunshine reveals the first flush of green on the Hawthorn.
On the radio today they estimate things are about three weeks late.
Birds :
You might recall a while back , we had a report of Chiffchaffs being heard in January.
Well, on Monday I heard two singing competitively down by the old church.
Whether these are early migrants or robust survivors of the winter it's impossible to say.
Today, I have heard about six singing, and had a good view of one near Naburn.
The nesting behaviour of some birds is intesting to watch. I sat riveted as two Magpies defended their nest in a still leafless tree against a nosy Crow.
Whether the crow was intent on eggs, or seizing the nest itself, was impossible to judge.
Given the late Spring , I think it unlikely that eggs were yet laid.
Neither of these species is popular, yet they are both very succesful in this area.
Crows particularly are very numerous , even flocking on occasion ( and no , they were not Rooks ).
I had a corvine dispute involving eight of them in my garden recently , which went on very noisily for about fifteen minutes , but I simply couldn't discern what it was all about.
All the crow family are highly intelligent,and seem to have complex social lives.
STOP PRESS : The first Swallow , today , along the river near Naburn.
Just one, and looking very cold in the cruel wind.
Amphibians :
The Frogs and Toads have now all spawned : I missed it , but they must have got
it all over very quickly the week before last, when I was very busy.
A lot of dead ones afterwards, suggesting exhaustion and very low fat reserves at the end
of a very long winter.
There is spawn in a couple of places I had not noticed last year, but quantities are low.
Just placed a clasped couple of Toads out of harm's way on the cycle track, near the Newt Pond where they are happily calling , and mating is still proceeding.
Insects :
When it's warm enough , the Bumblebees and Solitary Bees are about in some numbers, but there's not much flowering for them to collect from.
Mammals :
The Press report a Seal appearing in the Foss basin last week. Which means it may be up and down the river,and worth keeping an eye out for.
We had one two years ago, and it may be the same individual.
It's a big Atlantic Grey , a male by the looks of the photo.
And two days ago , I watched a Roe doe across the river from the boatyard.
They are often there at twilight , and probably very early. Stand by the Noah's Ark
presently building ( does he know something we don't ?) and look across into the jumble of trees and brush across the other side.
The deer exactly match the brown colour of the still dead vegetation, but give themselves away when they move. Watched through glasses, they are grazing the new grass.
Seen twice this week.
The long-range forecasters ( not the poor old Met Office ) who got it right about last summer, and this last winter , are predicting a VERY hot summer .
*************************************************************************************************************.
The longed-for Spring totters in like a tired geriatric, rather than striding in like
a robust adolescent.
Plants are growing , but very slowly. The cow-parsley and nettles are at least five inches tall in places, and at least the daffodils are now well out, and today's sunshine reveals the first flush of green on the Hawthorn.
On the radio today they estimate things are about three weeks late.
Birds :
You might recall a while back , we had a report of Chiffchaffs being heard in January.
Well, on Monday I heard two singing competitively down by the old church.
Whether these are early migrants or robust survivors of the winter it's impossible to say.
Today, I have heard about six singing, and had a good view of one near Naburn.
The nesting behaviour of some birds is intesting to watch. I sat riveted as two Magpies defended their nest in a still leafless tree against a nosy Crow.
Whether the crow was intent on eggs, or seizing the nest itself, was impossible to judge.
Given the late Spring , I think it unlikely that eggs were yet laid.
Neither of these species is popular, yet they are both very succesful in this area.
Crows particularly are very numerous , even flocking on occasion ( and no , they were not Rooks ).
I had a corvine dispute involving eight of them in my garden recently , which went on very noisily for about fifteen minutes , but I simply couldn't discern what it was all about.
All the crow family are highly intelligent,and seem to have complex social lives.
STOP PRESS : The first Swallow , today , along the river near Naburn.
Just one, and looking very cold in the cruel wind.
Amphibians :
The Frogs and Toads have now all spawned : I missed it , but they must have got
it all over very quickly the week before last, when I was very busy.
A lot of dead ones afterwards, suggesting exhaustion and very low fat reserves at the end
of a very long winter.
There is spawn in a couple of places I had not noticed last year, but quantities are low.
Just placed a clasped couple of Toads out of harm's way on the cycle track, near the Newt Pond where they are happily calling , and mating is still proceeding.
Insects :
When it's warm enough , the Bumblebees and Solitary Bees are about in some numbers, but there's not much flowering for them to collect from.
Mammals :
The Press report a Seal appearing in the Foss basin last week. Which means it may be up and down the river,and worth keeping an eye out for.
We had one two years ago, and it may be the same individual.
It's a big Atlantic Grey , a male by the looks of the photo.
And two days ago , I watched a Roe doe across the river from the boatyard.
They are often there at twilight , and probably very early. Stand by the Noah's Ark
presently building ( does he know something we don't ?) and look across into the jumble of trees and brush across the other side.
The deer exactly match the brown colour of the still dead vegetation, but give themselves away when they move. Watched through glasses, they are grazing the new grass.
Seen twice this week.
The long-range forecasters ( not the poor old Met Office ) who got it right about last summer, and this last winter , are predicting a VERY hot summer .
*************************************************************************************************************.
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