The flowering.......

                       Its three weeks since my last blog and a lot has changed in Crow Wood over that time. Even though the recent cold snap may well have slowed things down a little, the wood is quickly greening up and flowering. The first Bluebells are yet to open out but Wood Anemones, Primroses and Violets are all in bloom now and insect life is responding to the warmth and prospect of nectar. The bees in the hives located in the wood are getting very active again and finding plenty of early Spring flowers to visit; they seem to have survived the rigours of winter well. One of my favourite flowers the Early Purple Orchid is out and there are signs of the later flowering Common Spotted Orchids pushing through in a few places. As its name suggests the Early Purple is one of the first to flower in spring and we have about eight flower spikes in our wood now after rescuing a few plants from an area on the edge of the woodland that the local farmer was intent on ploughing up. 

Honey Bee returning to the hive, loaded with pollen

                                Many of the trees are in flower too,  making it a nightmare time for hay fever sufferers. The oaks and chestnuts are yet to bud burst but the Birches and Hornbeams are showing plenty of catkins. Hornbeams in Spring are a delight, with their lime green young leaves and long, hanging flowers. Birds are getting active too. When I arrived today there were two Chiffchaffs and several Blackcaps singing. Blackcaps are members of the warbler family. They are woodland species that prefer to hide in cover and sing from within vegetation, so I was pleased to see one well. It is not possible to tell if any of the birds there today were residents or a freshly arrived migrants from Europe as many Blackcaps overwinter in the UK now, thanks to climate change. As always, my time in the wood was graced by a calling buzzard, then another and then another two. And as the day warmed up all four birds had clearly found a thermal and were circling high above me, one engaging in a dramatic display flight to one of the females. On the ground, a Comma butterfly and a Red Admiral showed themselves in a sunny patch, both likely to be recently emerged from a long hibernation somewhere in the wood, and like me, relishing a bit of sun.

the Comma butterfly, so called because of the white "punctuation" mark on its underside

Primrose

Violet

The magnificent Early Purple Orchid

Hornbeam catkins

Wood Anemones along a woodland ride

The Blackcap - the name says it all !