Blackthorn Blossom and Bumblebees

On Monday 24th March the Blackthorn blossom had suddenly appeared and so had the Bumblebees - perfect timing.

A fine example of Blackthorn as it should be, wild, unkempt and full of flowers, with spring clouds drifting through a blue sky.

The weather was good, with clear skies at first after a light frost overnight. There was a cold breeze from the east, bringing in clouds later. The river was reasonably low but fast-flowing, carrying less mud now. Lesser Celandine was covering even more of the banks, with Lady's Smock (Cuckoo flower) and violets appearing.
The Blackthorn in blossom was attracting many birds, both amongst the branches and in the long grasses all along the base of the hedgerows. Old trees proved yet again that Storms Provide Homes  in creating new holes and crevices under newly split bark and broken branches. Heaps of fallen twigs, larger fallen branches and uprooted trees, left where they fall, provide ground-nesting birds and small mammals with ideal spring habitat and winter refuges.

  It's nature at its best and nature will win! 

A welcome sight for birds, bees and butterflies

Today, Bumblebees around the blossom were mainly Bombus terrestris (Buff-tailed), with some low-flying Bombus lapidarius (Red-tailed),  Bombus lucorum (White-tailed) and Bombus pratorum (Early Bumblebee) 

There seem to be some giant-sized bumblebees this spring, perhaps due to the mild winter.

Two Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were visible, warming up on the dry stalks of last-year's nettles, with fresh green nettles springing up amongst them, on the river bank.

Blue tits were the most numerous birds (43), busy nesting and collecting insects amongst the ivy whilst great tits (24) were easy to see, foraging in the oaks and calling, in very good condition with bright smart plumage. The usual group of starlings were gathered, whistling in their thicket with other small groups seen flying (25). Grassy areas were wet with melted frost on very muddy ground, ideal for blackbirds (20) which found it easy to find food whilst others were busy nesting, silent apart from alarm calls warning off intruders. One song thrush saw seen at the base of a thicket with two silent dunnocks nearby.

The loudest and most persistent singers today were the wrens (17) which were all guarding their territories along the banks, investigating the heaps of small twigs, flood debris, for insects. One wren was seen visiting a hole in an oak, looking in then flying around then returning to the same place several times. Potential nest site or source of food? Whatever it was, it was suddenly chased away by the arrival of a nuthatch, calling loudly. The nuthatch then moved up the trunk and away, still calling, a warning to the wren not to approach its territory. Three other nuthatches were seen and heard in trees along the river (4).

Our new arrivals, the chiffchaffs (11) were making themselves at home, all calling and moving restlessly through the branches - a very good view of one making a fantastic zig-zag descent from one twig to another, collecting insects, making the blue tits look quite cumbersome in comparison.

Other birds singing were chaffinches (10), greenfinches (2) and a group of goldfinches (11), the latter were amongst catkins, never loud but hardly ever silent!  House sparrows (41) in separate colonies, some together in dense brambles, others in hedgerows were heard, some males calling. 

Violets on the grass just as the early frost was melting

Robins (17) were very active, chasing each other amongst the brambles and blossom, singing and foraging - but could not compete in volume with the song of the chiffchaffs. Just one last winter migrant was glimpsed in the Blackthorn, a redwing, ready to join the return flight north.

Woodpigeons (21) were evenly distributed  in ones and twos, dozing in trees or foraging and 3 collared doves were calling from the ivy. One calling pheasant was heard close by- but even closer a very loud yaffle from a green woodpecker rang out - it was answered by another green woodpecker in the distance (2). 10 carrion crows were seen, most single, flying across and 3 magpies on their way to high nests. Four jackdaws and 3 rooks were also seen, silently foraging. 

Down low on the river two male mallard were chasing and further along a mallard pair were seen preening in the sunshine. Elsewhere along the river the quiet calls of more mallard could be heard, hidden by the steep banks (more than 4 in total). A sparrowhawk flew low across from bank to bank in a split second, causing no disturbance.

High thin calls gave away the presence of a goldcrest foraging in a conifer, just tiny movements amongst the evergreen then a fine view for a second. Calls from the sky - a buzzard approaching fast in the wind, suddenly banking and turning to circle, dropping lower with each circle until it was out of sight behind the trees.