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| Common Starling on the feeders |
Just the local birds, most of them now in some stage of the breeding cycle. 3 Chiffchaffs were singing alongside the resident birds. As I left the house this afternoon, the Starlings were still feeding on the suet balls on the feeders. Why they left them alone all winter, even in the worst of the weather and now decide to feed on them I don't know.
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| Small Tortoiseshell on a Dandeliion |
The number of insects are now increasing as the days get warmer and longer. Two Small Tortoiseshell were sunning themselves along the path and three Buff-tailed Bumble-bee queens were also present. It was another cold night compared to earlier in the week and I hadn't put the moth trap out, if I had, I doubt I would have had more than a few of the common spring moths. The Goat Willow is full of catkins with the other species (and hybrids) in bud but it won't be long before they are also out. When they are in flower in a few days it will dramatically reduce the number of moths I catch and I fully expect it to be like that for the rest of the April. The tinkers just refuse to leave the blossom just because there a nice light above a moth trap not too far away.
The flora around the woods is growing rapidly now. A Wild Plum tree (Prunus domestica) was in full flower, more advanced than the Blackthorns that are also in flower at the moment but still only have a few open flowers per bush. White Dead-nettle was also in flower for the first time.
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| Wild Plum in South Burn Woods full of flower |
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