First Day of Spring?

20th March, the first day of Spring 2013 and Willow catkins only just appearing as small buds on the river bank Willows. Hazel catkins, which appeared some time ago, still hanging on. The ground beneath the hazels now covered in a carpet of Wild Garlic which is showing strong growth in places all along the river banks. Extremely wet weather with continuous rainfall caused the river to reach the top of the banks again, flowing swiftly and muddy from flooded fields well upstream.

A slow start to spring, colder again after the continuous rain.

Today it wasn't raining - and a slight glimpse of the sun appeared in gaps between the clouds but the cold northerly wind chilled the riverside with the river high, muddy and fast flowing. 

Many blackbirds (29) were busy all along the river, low on the banks and under hedgerows, with a few foraging on the grass. Two song thrushes, one singing from a low perch under a tree, were seen and a small number of house sparrows (14), not as noisy as usual, were hidden inside a dense hedgerow. Great tits were singing and chasing (26) highly visible in their smart plumage. Blue tits (42) were also very active everywhere with long-tailed tits (14) foraging across tops of thickets following each other closely but some pairs now separated from their winter groups prospecting for nest sites amongst the brambles although they will probably delay nest building until the weather is warmer and drier.
Large numbers of goldfinches were obviously sheltering together well hidden amongst the ivy on some hedgerow trees with more sheltering low down in a drainage basin area. Comings and goings with much continuous singing under cover gave them away (36+) and greenfinches, fewer in number (8) were also calling from inside the thickets. Woodpigeons were also sheltering in large numbers low on the grassy dips of the drainage basins (98) and the fields and crows (19) were busy nest building, carrying nest materials to their individually chosen sites. A single collared dove was seen flying across - far less numerous here in very recent times after settling in large numbers some years ago.
Robins were singing strongly (23) and easily visible happily sharing their territories with other species such as wrens  (8) but not with other robins. Just two dunnocks were seen, both singing and 7 chaffinches, a few calling but no full songs yet. A bullfinch was seen for an instant flying into a thicket, not pausing to sing.
The brightest birds today were a flock of siskins (21), some very bright yellow males with dark caps, together with some females were foraging in the top of an old oak over the river. Chattering song gave away many more in a thicket and amongst the branches of the oak - a very welcome sight and sound.
It was very good to see that nuthatches were busy nesting (2), certainly later than last year, one carrying nest material to a tree hole and its mate foraging in the trees behind, calling, then both started calling to each other. Louder calls came from a green woodpecker, very vocal at this time of the year, voices designed to carry large distances across fields. There were 3 in different locations along the riverside.

Apart from singing and chasing birds and some nest building there were few signs of spring, just some tiny willow catkin buds showing and the wild garlic leaves under the trees. Redwings and fieldfares are still present but only one redwing was seen today - a fine view in a thicket with others probably hidden.
Magpies (4) were close to the woodpigeons on the fields and only 6 herring gulls were seen overhead but as the morning advanced a pair of buzzards appeared soaring on the thermals, circling around and around each other, meeting in mid-air. One appeared to have something in its claws, possibly nesting material - a branch, perhaps a nest-building display! Later a third buzzard appeared but remained some distance away from the pair.
Lower amongst the trees a great spotted woodpecker flew across and 3 mallard, 2 males and one female  were hastily flying low along the river course.
Smaller birds seen were two smart coal tits foraging in a conifer which they obviously share with goldcrests as two of these tiny birds were seen foraging as well. A pair of treecreepers were seen in another old oak on the river, a tree with ideal treecreeper habitat - very rough bark and old branches with plenty of loose bark forming crevices - all good for nesting and foraging. A third treecreeper was seen foraging on a younger tree - the slight sunshine bringing out some insects.
Last but not least, one of our rarer birds - a peregrine falcon - was seen zipping through the air above, upsetting the casual flight of the gulls before disappearing over the trees.

...and Freezing March

A Bramble patch providing shelter from the blizzard

March so far has been 'interesting', starting cold and dry with frost at night, allowing the ground to dry out at last, at least on the surface but turning warmer, cloudy and wet in the first part of the second week,  then on the 10th becoming very cold with and increasingly cold N wind and snow in blizzard form on 11th. 

Snow on the outer branches of the Brambles - but inside the dense thicket it was warm and dry, sheltering robins, territorial disputes forgotten for a while and house sparrows, wrens and dunnocks, blackbirds and song thrushes. 

By 13th most of the snow had been blown away by the fierce winds and it became warmer

A bright surprise:
Tuesday 5th March 2013 was much warmer (for a short while) and quiet with no wind - quiet that is apart from the distant sound of a bird scarer gun over the horizon. The river bank vegetation very dry and brown except for the bright green shoots of Wild Garlic and the river itself was flowing well but low with less mud.  A quick look along the river:
Many robins were singing (16) and great tits now calling loudly (17) more noticeable than the more numerous but quietly calling active blue tits (39).  Chaffinches were calling but not yet singing (7) and only 3 greenfinches were visible, with more probably out of sight in a dense thicket. More singing, this time from goldfinches also mainly out of sight but 3 clearly visible, one displaying. Today, most of the house sparrows were in the bramble patches, flying out to chase around, then back under cover (20). A strong, clear tuneful song gave away a single dunnock and looking down onto the river, a wren silently flew along the water and up onto the bank, another gave an alarm call whilst two were singing full  songs and others worked around tree roots and under brambles (7) prospecting for nest sites.  Two long-tailed tits were seen chasing along the river,  they will also be choosing a nest site soon. A single male mallard was dabbling on the river in an area where a pair raised 12 chicks last year.
Blackbirds were numerous along the river today, they often prefer to hide away in bad weather, choosing to forage under cover (17).  Some of these are winter visitors and will be leaving soon. It was good to see 3 fieldfare too, flying out of a tree into a thicket as they have not been numerous here this winter and will also be off soon unless the weather remains cold.
 A green woodpecker called from a rough field whilst at least 30 black-headed gulls landed on the short grass of the field, keeping their distance from a group of woodpigeons feeding on the same field. These smart gulls were in various stages of plumage, some in full summer plumage (dark brown head) whilst others were still in winter plumage or in-between. They will soon be off elsewhere to breed and only forage on inland fields during the winter. In a different field where another attenuation basin is due to be excavated this year,  more woodpigeons foraged (41), together with a few crows (7) and 2 magpies, all keeping their distance. A Jay flew into a thicket - they are still present along the river despite the almost complete lack of acorns to feed on throughout the autumn and winter. Only 2 starlings were seen but there are large numbers further south along the Arun valley.
In a different environment, waterlogged mud, pied wagtails were enjoying themselves bathing in pools of rain water on the disturbed ground (9) - two crows arrived and after watching for a while, decided to do likewise, spashing about. Some birds do prefer mud!   Noisy herring gulls (10) wheeled in the air then 2 buzzards appeared, gliding along at leisure on the thermals all the while looking down over the hedgerows, fields and river banks.
I looked down onto the steep river banks as well, where the low dry flattened grasses formed a mat just above the water level and spotted flashes of bright orange in the warm sunshine - these were two Comma butterflies just emerged from hibernation in their tree hollow for a while, basking with wings outstretched then suddenly taking off and chasing each other around in circles then dropping down to the grasses to bask again. I watched them continue this activity for a while, they remained in the same warm sheltered patch the whole time. It was a rare warm day but I was not expecting to see butterflies!