Wandering without purpose

I’ve decided to try and keep up with my nature blog. I’ve had a major health scare this year and it’s taken me a long time to fall back in love with nature. Barely walked my local patch, not gone further afield, barely read around the subject, barely worked on my dissertation project (all about dealing with bad biological recording data).

I’m starting to slowly get back into it, and writing has helped me out in the past so I shall give it another go.

Yesterday I had a wander round Jackson’s Brickworks, a local nature reserve, in my  home village/town. I have written about the place before, a little gem filled with all sorts of wildlife. Expecting to find not a lot, owing to windy conditions I was just expecting a pleasant stroll. And I was right, no real highlights. Was half hoping for an early Chiffchaff  Phylloscopus collybita but alas I heard nothing. This is a partial migrant bird, in some parts of the UK you can find them all year round, but here they are still a migrant and turn up about nowish (my earliest record for the site is 13th March).

I did see a Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris which was a bonus given the

 strong winds and low temperature. I actually saw several more of these 3 weeks ago when the UK had unseasonably mild February weather.

Marsh Marigolds Caltha palustris were in full bloom, pretty normal for this time of year, granted, but they are a great sign that things are changing and it can only be getting better from now on.

FULL LIST OF BIRDS SEEN/HEARD (GEEKY, I KNOW, BUT HEY)

Canada Goose (2, maybe checking out a nesting site)

Woodpigeon

Moorhen (2)

Grey Heron

Common Buzzard

Jackdaw

Carrion Crow

Great Tit

Nuthatch

Wren

Robin

Song Thrush

Blackbird

Starling

Dunnock

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Lesser Redpoll

Goldfinch

Siskin

House Sparrow

 

 

Joys of Spring

This week started out seriously tough. The old black dog bit me again on Sunday and then bit harder on Monday and Tuesday. Really was in a hole. I needed to climb out of it badly. So what did I do to help? I visited my local nature reserve of course. I actually tried this on Tuesday too but to no avail, my head was in the wrong place so I just wandered round seeing nothing but my own thoughts.

So on Wednesday I tried again, this time it was different, the air was fresh and spring-like, the resident birds were singing, some early flowers were in bloom (Marsh Marigold and Lesser Celandine to name two), and two dozen or so frogs were getting amorous.

Lesser Celandine at JBW.               Photo: Author

My local reserve, Jackson’s Brickworks in Poynton, is never going to be on any national websites or feature in any magazines but I love the place, especially at this time of year, as spring springs into life very obviously here. Wednesday was spring-like at Jackson’s and certainly helped me start to return to normal, but Thursday was when spring started and I felt a lot better. Why? Two notes repeated over and over.

What are the signs of spring? It could be when the first Blackbird starts to sing (in my case on the 22nd of February). Or maybe the Song Thrush (the 6th of Feb)? How about when Snowdrops start to bloom, or when crocuses take their place? Maybe it should be frogspawn, or the first bumblebee seen? Personally I love the blackbirds singing and it is a strong contender, song thrushes are a tad too early, as are snowdrops and crocuses, maybe they should be harbingers rather than signs perhaps? Frogspawn and bumblebees are definitely signs of spring but they don’t quite cut it on a visceral level for me. No, my definitive start of spring is the sound of the Chiffchaff singing, two notes repeated endlessly. Not the flutey melodious blackbird but two disyllabic sounds. Why? Because chiffchaffs are to me the first visable (and more importantly, audible) spring and summer migrants that appear at my local nature reserve. This chiffy on Thursday would have overwintered in Spain or France and migrated here last week (OK I know some overwinter on the south coast of England now as I saw on St. Agnes). It had just begun to claim its territory amongst the local wrens robins blackbirds et al.

Jackson’s Brickworks came to life on Thursday, I now eagerly await the rest of the spring migrants, swallows, house martins, willow warblers, blackcaps, and eventually swifts. Ring Ouzels will also begin to appear in the hills in the coming weeks, which is the direction I will also go as I again change from volunteer to employee. Once more I will be surveying these secretive thrushes and their habitat this spring and summer, it should be fantastic again! Wildlife really is a great anti-depressant!