Saturday 21 March 2009

Full on spring at Oak Road lake

What a fantastic day to start spring. Blue sky, warm and almost no wind. We walk around the lake. The willows were in bloom and many bees and bumblebees were gorging on the catkins. We saw the first Bombus lapidarius and B. pascuorum of the year feeding on them. The nettles are starting to grow in earnest. A pair of Little Grebes kept calling in their 'laugh-like' way and Great tits were singing. We found a flooded site next to the wind turbine covered in frog spawn. No sign of breeding toads though. To end the visit, a Small Tortoiseshell fluttered about and stopped for long enough for me to take some shots.
View of the lake and reedbeds
A beautiful flowering willow
Willow catkins
Poplar catkins
Coot among the reeds
Male swan
Small Tortoiseshell

 Not a lot of birds around today, though.

1. Swan, 1 male
2. Coot (>6)
3. Moorhen (prrr!)
4. Mallards (6 or so)
5. Pair of little grebes (laughing a lot!)
6. Blackbird
7. Reed warbler? (singing)
8. Wood pigeon
9. Crow
10. Great tit
11. Long-tailed tit with feather in beak  flies into the trees