Spring is finally here ?

[Stubby]

5 minutes ago, Darrin Turnbull said:

Removed my first tick of the year.

from my armpit.

very small one.

 

How big is your other arm pit ?

Edited April 9, 2018 by Stubby

[ABtrees]

Just got back from France.  Haven't seen the 'first Swallow' yet and haven't found the first tick yet (apart from on the cat !) but the bugs and beasties are definitely waking up.  We had 2 hot (22+ degrees) days and found the first Bloody Nose beetle and the first 'Oily' (pic below) of the season on Saturday - I guess it makes sense as the bees are waking up too !

 

As are the butterflies, 2018 so far includes : Brimstone, Orange Tip, Peacock, Small and Large Tortoiseshell so hopefully it's going to be a good year.

[nepia]

Saw a swallow and a martin just outside Tiverton on Saturday; we've had a few brimstones for the last week or so here in Surrey.  Bumble bees have been about in ones all through the winter - sadly.

 

The dawn chorus is picking up but it's nothing like it was just 5 years ago ; so few birds these days.

[Stubby]

2 minutes ago, nepia said:

Saw a swallow and a martin just outside Tiverton on Saturday; we've had a few brimstones for the last week or so here in Surrey.  Bumble bees have been about in ones all through the winter - sadly.

 

The dawn chorus is picking up but it's nothing like it was just 5 years ago ; so few birds these days.

As an aside . I am deafened by the jackdaws coming off roost as dawn breaks . The cacophony of sound they make  as the fly " en mass " out to the fields has not changed in my memory !

[Baldbloke]

Wren is building a nest in our lean to and I saw a Bumble bee and a brown butterfly today. No leaves about yet though.
Put your location in your profile or you could be in South Africa for all we know [emoji3]

Moray, Scotland. I’ll have a look at the settings when I get near a computer to update my profile[emoji1303]

[Billhook]

"Spring is Here"  I think that we can conclude was a "Premature Especulation"!

[Yournamehere]

I'll see your brimstones, bumble bees & swallows and raise you... a blackcap, or rather two or three of them pulling some bits of grass about for their display nests*; out at shillinglee which is north-west west-sussex.

 

* is it blackcaps that do the display nests to attract their mates and then build the proper nests together? Shouldof have looked that one up.

 

Happy days

Yourn

[ABtrees]

2 hours ago, Yournamehere said:

I'll see your brimstones, bumble bees & swallows and raise you... a blackcap, or rather two or three of them pulling some bits of grass about for their display nests*; out at shillinglee which is north-west west-sussex.

 

* is it blackcaps that do the display nests to attract their mates and then build the proper nests together? Shouldof have looked that one up.

 

Happy days

Yourn

Ok Yourn (apart from the fact we've both been 'trumped' by Mick and his Hoopoe in 'Show us Ya birds') which of these is your nest building 'Blackcap' ........... and BTW is the other Marsh or Willow (not the tree!) - anyone ?!!!!

 

 

 

 

[Yournamehere]

Had to think about that for a moment.

I was thinking well I know the song of the garden warbler is very similar to that of a blackcap and they are often mistaken for each other, but how on earth can you think either of those might be a marsh warbler or a garden warbler???

 

So I put m'glasses on and...

 

Ah! I getcher.

 

Lower one is a blackcap; the upper one is a marsh/willow tit but I need to know whether its head is glossy like the shine of a wet marsh-land or matt like the non-shine of a willow stem.

 

Happy days Y.

 

 

[Yournamehere]

PS