Springtime in the woods - flowers and butterflies

We took advantage of the sunshine yesterday to go for lunch in the woods with my parents, who were visiting for the day. Although I saw solitary Bluebells a couple of weeks ago, there's a liberal scattering now visible!

The Wood Anemones are also looking good, now at the height of their flowering:

Between them and the Bluebells, the woodland is completely green now!

In the wayleave there are also Violets in flower, to the delight of various insects:

There's a good number of Primroses too - these were near the roadside:

Also scattered amongst the Wood Anemones over in Sweep Wood are Lesser Celandine and an occasional Daffodil:

The butterflies are also out in force now, here's a Small Tortoiseshell:

a Comma:

and a Peacock:

The birds are busy too - we saw some scouting out nesting sites, and the pheasants are strutting around making a lot of noise as usual for the time of year:

The trees all come into leaf at different times - Oak is still some way off, but Hornbeam is coming out now:

Hawthorn is well on the way:

Hazel is just starting:

and in the warmer spots in Sweep Wood there are even some Sweet Chestnut leaves appearing, but in most parts of the woods they are not started yet:

Here's a view of an area we coppiced in 2010/11, with ground cover growing like crazy:

And here's the area we cut in autumn 2013 - we spotted a few butterflies making the best of the new sunlight in this area already!

Finally, Tracy had her class visit the woods this week, so their dens/shelters are now in a better state of repair:

One group even got as far as making some miniature clay pots for the den's 'kitchen'!

We're looking forward to some more sunny days so we can spend time in the woods, now the wet weather has passed...

Mike

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Buds, birds and flowers in the woods

It's warming up a lot now (in the daytime at least), and this weekend we took advantage of the sunshine for a walk in the woods. There's loads of Spring flowers out now, like the Wood Anemone (all the following flower pics are from Sweep Wood):

the Lesser Celandine:

and of course the Primrose:

There's Daffodils too - I thought these were probably garden escapees, at the top of Sweep Wood, but there's one further down the hill too, which is odd:

What's particularly noticeable is how the strip in Sweep Wood that we coppiced this winter and last is really green as it gets so much light:

Compare this to a patch near our camp in Chestnut Coppice, which won't get much sunlight for a few weeks yet:

Not to be outdone by the flowers, some of the trees are in bloom too, like this Plum at the top of Sweep Wood:

Our own fruit trees are budding, like this pear:

and the wild Apple:

Some are a bit further behind, like this Sycamore:

While others already have leaves, like Elder:

and Hawthorn:

Meanwhile the willow has its catkins on:

With all these flowers coming out, it's not surprising to see bees around:

and also butterflies, like this Comma:

There was even a Ladybird sunning itself:

The birds are very busy right now, singing to mark out their territory. Here's a Robin, a Blackbird, a Blue Tit and a Pigeon:

Oops, I guess someone ate the Pigeon!

Last but not least, we found a huge bone. I assume someone's dog dropped it, unless we have cows in the wood...

Mike

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Signs of Spring

Here's some assorted photos taken over the past couple of weeks, showing the Spring is finally arriving - a few weeks later than last year!

Two weeks ago the wood anemones were just raising their heads:
They're out now, and if we go up to the wood this weekend I'll get some photos.

Other flowers are coming out too. Over in Sweep Wood Tracy saw Daffodils and Lesser Celandine:
the snowdrops, however, have finished now, and are heavily laden with seed pods:
Buds are coming out on the trees now. Last week the chestnut buds were starting to split and show a hint of green:
and the same is happening to our fruit trees:
and also the mystery plum tree in Sweep Wood:
We were pleased to see that at least some of the sheltered oak seedlings have got through the winter as well - you can just about see the buds at the bottom of this shelter:
The bramble and nettles are getting going
and the whole wood is looking generally green:
There's a lot of wildlife activity too, especially male pheasants making themselves heard (and seen):
and some active digging at a badger sett in Sweep Wood:
Hopefully we'll have some more springtime pictures for you in the next couple of days...

Mike

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