February Buds, Brambles and a Butterfly

After several days of continuously dark and overcast weather, yesterday 13th February 2017 was a fine frostless sunny day - all day - with a cool easterly wind starting to dry the muddy earth.

A good day perhaps to look for signs of spring along the riverbanks.

Looking up at the old oaks, the reddish tinge of new leaf buds was a good sign. 

Close up - an oak twig on a branch extending across the river held some strong buds -

they will grow slowly - it will be many weeks before they unfold.

Close by, a complete contrast, fine fragile twigs of a willow, leaf buds barely visible - but this may come into leaf well before the oaks.

On the river bank, the arching stems of brambles, red in the sun amongst dry grasses, superb habitat for many creatures, as yet untouched by high water as the river has not yet topped its banks this winter.

 I expected most birds to be hunkered down out of the wind despite the warmer air temperature but

 sheltered places along the river held foraging birds.

Great tits could be heard singing, or rather calling, whilst the most numerous birds seen today were blue tits, very active in searching for insects under layers of lichen along old branches in the sun. Blackbirds were also numerous, most foraging on grass, others 'sunning' in branches, with outstretched wings. All were silent. Three song thrushes were also seen foraging and looking down onto a bend in the river, quite sheltered and secluded, a mistle thrush was bathing, perched on a shallow twig island in the river.

A group of goldfinches were singing in a thicket nearby, then suddenly stopped but did not move. Walking around the next bend in the river I saw a bird suddenly shoot upwards out of the thicket. It flew across the river and soared over, circling first them moving off out of sight. It was a sparrowhawk which had probably been lurking in the river thicket.

 There was no movement of song for some while after the sparrowhawk left - but further along, a chaffinch was calling, a few starlings were seen and two carrion crows, two jackdaws, several magpies and woodpigeons were seen in flight and on fence posts. Two wrens were heard singing and about ten robins were protecting their territories choosing to sing from low, sheltered hedgerows or thickets. Two dunnocks were seen chasing across the path.

Two black-headed gulls were foraging on the short grass field in the company of a much larger herring gull. In the distance a buzzard could be seen circling into the strong wind and back in the shelter of the old oaks, a nuthatch was heard calling. Hearing numerous house sparrows singing from the steep river bank -

their favourite sheltered bathing area amongst the dense vegetation - I looked across an saw a Red Admiral butterfly flying strongly over the dry grass stalks in the sun.

These birds and the butterfly were just seen in passing by -

 A Full Survey for February will follow later this month