Signs of Spring in the Woodland Burial Ground.

 The chiffchaff was in the same spot again, onomatopoeically repeatedly calling its name. This one was on the edge of the main cemetery but I found four more in the woodland burial ground. It is wonderful to hear them again after a long dreary winter, especially on a mild sunny day. Most chiffchaff around here leave us at the end of the summer, some flying as far as North Africa. Increasingly, though, with our warming climate, some choose to over winter, especially in Southern England and Europe. It's a gamble for them,however, balancing the ability to find food in the colder northern climate as opposed to the energy costs of a long, arduous migration flight. Those that remain are able to breed earlier, so passing on more of their genes to the next generation.

In the woodland burial ground I enjoyed watching and photographing a buff-tailed bumblebee feeding on pussy willow pollen. There was also a small flock of elusive bullfinches here and a larger one of chattering goldfinches.

I only saw two butterflies today, both small tortoiseshells.

Female bullfinch

Buff-tailed bumblebee

Buff-tailed bumblebee heading for the hills.

Buff-tailed bumblebee

Buff-tailed bumblebee

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

You know it's spring when horse chestnut starts to open.

Further Signs of Spring Along the Freshney

 Despite the Arctic forecast the day turned out to be bright and sunny, although there was a nithering northerly wind making it feel close to freezing; in fact parts of the country have had snow.  We walked Jet along the Freshney as far as the ponds at the back of Morrison's and back.  Signs of spring are everywhere now with more migrant birds arriving every day and we saw our first swallow of the year zip past.  Back at Littlecoates church we carried on towards the leisure centre to check on the cowslips and were delighted to find good patches of them in flower and looking magnificent.  I managed to get close enough to a little egret to get some photos and also a magpie, another very wary bird, in full sun which showed off its colours to perfection.

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A Walk Along the Ancholme

As Lockdown restrictions are being eased slightly we made the decision to meet Thomas at Doncaster services.  He had been to Doncaster to buy a new car and we met up afterwards at the services, taking our own flasks, sandwiches and chairs and keeping the recommended 2m distance from each other.  Rather than just drive to the services and back, however we decided to have a walk along the Ancholme on the way.  I hoped for butterflies and we wanted to have a look at the new bike trail along the river.

The original plan was to park at Horkstow Bridge, walk down the river to Saxby Bridge and back on the other side.  However, when we arrived at Horkstow, there was a large group of 20 somethings in 3 or 4 cars swimming and BBQing and playing music very loudly.  This is not the first case I have heard of people crowding to normally quiet spots.  Recently so many people besieged Limber for the Brockelsby Estate walk and the parking mayhem and damage caused in the woods has resulted in its closure.  This behaviour is inexcusable.  I also heard yesterday that a similar situation was Hubbard's Hills in Louth.  Deciding not to stay we drove back to Saxby All Saints and the bridge there and walked towards Bonby Carr Lane.  The butterflies I had hoped for didn't materialise, although I did find some beautiful dog roses - one of my favourite flowers.  I wonder if the dry weather is the cause of the lack of butterflies.  We have had no significant rain for over three months.  From floods we moved straight into pandemic lockdown and drought.  When will this world learn that we cannot keep desecrating the planet.

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Looking towards South Ferribly Sluice

Saxby Bridge

A Walk in Dixon Woods

It was a beautiful day today and, not wanting to drive far, we decided to try Dixon Wood on the opposite of the road to Bradley for a change.  In some ways it is more attractive than Bradley with a more open woodland with quite a large number of hazel coppice stools in evidence.  Bluebells were again plentiful, as was stitchwort and one or two good patches of early purple orchids.  Red campions were coming into flower and there were still some primroses showing flowers.  Initially the scent of may blossom was heavy on the air, but as we got further around the wood, the cool breeze off the sea brought the heavy aroma of oil seed rape.  In one of the more open areas which must be more acidic, bracken was growing up amongst the bluebells.  At one point we came across a very large patch of thriving bugle, the blue flower spikes thrusting up through the surrounding vegetation.  The down side of Dixon Wood over Bradley is that a good stretch of the footpath runs along side the road, busy with traffic using Bradley Road as a shortcut to the main Louth road, so it gets intrusively noisy.