Back to life

                      With the demise of those seemingly endless grey and wet days of winter and the arrival of very hot days the wood is coming back to life again. The trees are showing their fresh green leaves, the bluebells are out, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps are singing and insects are buzzing again. This is the season for a tiny, day flying moth called the Green Longhorn. It has extended silver antenna and the males swarm in their hundreds over shrubs and trees waiting for the females to appear. They rarely land making them very challenging to photographs. May is also when St Mark's Flies are on the wing. These are small, all black flies that trail their longs legs when flying. St Mark's day is April 25th and this is when the flies generally appear, hence their name. They also are usually seen hovering over vegetation in their hundreds on hot, sunny days, like those we have been enjoying this month

                     The old fallen oak has become quite a feature of our wood now. I have started to clear some of the branches and cut some to dry for logs - we will have several years supply. It's hot work.

 Wild Strawberry plants in flower along the track

Rowan blossom with hoverfly

Tiny Green Longhorn moths, note their silver antenna

Rowan blossom with St. Mark's fly

The Bluebells are at their best and a good source of pollen for bumble bees

bright new leaves

Winter will return one day and these split oak logs will hopefully be dry enough to burn