An ancient woodland in spring

LAST weekend saw us take a ramble around a local favourite woodland owned by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.  They are doing a great job with their limited resources and the woodland flora is benefiting.  However I suspect that even more coppicing would be beneficial.  Anyway here are some of my pics:

Orange tip butterfly over bluebells

Cuckoo flowers in adjacent meadow

Bluebells

Early purple orchid

Lesser Celandine

False-oxlip (a cross between a cowslip and primroses)

 Beautifully laid hedge on woodland edge

Yellow archangel

Wood anemone

 Wood spurge

 

Spot the bee

Bluebells and sunshine

Bluebell path

Woodruff

 

Cuckoopint

View from the woodland edge

Meadows, woodland, river, sun

I made the most of the amazing, sunny evening by visiting a local wildlife hotspot in Wiltshire where I was keen to capture the early spring flowers.

A favourite meadow species of mine is the cuckoo flower, which likes damp-ish old grassland, but can be found in new habitats too.  I was hoping to get the classic shot of an orange tip butterfly and was lucky enough to capture one just as I approached the only decent clump of flowers.  I waited a long time but the butterfly never returned after that single moment.

Orange-tip on cuckoo flowers

A bee-fly

Blackthorn blossom

The meadows lie next to the River Avon and the reflection in the water showed of the blackthorn blossom beautifully.  Iford Manor was also a great backdrop for other blossom bearing trees.

 Iford Manor, Wiltshire

The meadows abut a small limestone grassland slope, which is beautifully managed through careful grazing.  It supports numerous unimproved grassland specialities, including this green-winged orchid and cowslips

Green-winged orchid

Cowslips

Next to the grassland is a narrow strip of rich woodland, with a bridle path running through it.

Old coppiced oak

It is full of ramsons and bluebells, between the oaks and old hazel stools, along with a number of other ancient woodland indicators, such as yellow archangel.

 

Yellow archangel

 Orange tip on a bluebell

Bluebells

Cowslips along the woodland ride

Greater stitchwort sapping up the sunrays

Bluebells in the evening sun

The sun going down behind the old stone bridge

Somerset Levels - a spring day

ON the Levels today there were two things out in force - mosquitoes and sand martins - thousands of them.  

 Lots and lots of mozzies

The bitterns were also booming strongly - the call starts with a stuttering burpy noise, then goes fully into the resonant bottle top blowing - very strange.  However hard I looked I did not see the bird. I did manage to great a great view of a sky wheeling marsh harrier and my first hobby of the year.

Thanks to the couple that I met today who pointed out a fantastic male adder curled up by the track.  It was also accompanied by a beautiful gold and black female - I think that we may have been gooseberries!

 

Adder (male)

Willow warblers, chiffchaffs and blackcaps were singing in the sunshine.  This blackcap was particularly tame:

  

Blackcap

The great crested grebes have all paired up and at this time of year can be seen dancing their exotic courting ritual...this was was just fishing:

 Great crested grebe

Fortunately the mozzies were not the only insects around.  A few butterfly species that overwinter as adults can be seen now; for instance peacocks, comma and brimstones.  I tried very hard to photograph the beautiful yellow brimstones in flight, as they shot up and down the woodland rides.  They are speedy little blighters!  This was my best effort:

Brimstone in flight

Spring also gives rise to seaonal fungi that only appear now.  This yellow one I think is Coprinus micaceus (the Glistening Ink cap) and was found in a woodland.  It appears from spring to autumn: