Part of the Woodland trail
Boggy Woods
The main track between Stratton and Stanton Woods
Interestingly though, there were the dozens of Honey Bees also enjoying this mild spell.. Fortunately for them the only flowers out at the moment are the beautiful Snowdrops, which also appear to be very abundant this year. The weather is very confusing and already there are reports of Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies flying about. And only yesterday my father saw both a Peacock and Red Admiral in Essex.
Honey Bee on Snowdrop
Honey Bees on Snowdrop
It's not just Snowdrops out but also Daffodils, Crocuses and Primroses. It must be Spring.
Most of the woodland birds appear to be pairing up and males seem to be singing from every branch we passed. There were Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Dunnocks, Robins and Blackbirds just about everywhere you looked. A few winter thrushes are still here, and in the fields that separate Stanton Wood with Stratton Wood there were several Redwing and a pair of Fieldfare, no doubt fuelling up for their flight back to Scandinavia. Overhead a pair of Buzzards were calling and will be courting soon.
Robin
On the lake there were a few Canada Geese with one individual with an orange collar, with the letters FT. It transpires it was ringed as an adult on 5 Jul 12 on CWP125, which is where it spent most of its time up until now. It is listed as being a male but was very light for a male when ringed (3.9kg) and has not been recorded as having a partner. This information was courtesy of the University of Exeter, who carried out a project on the movement of 153 Canada Geese in the CWP in May 2012.
Canada Goose - FT
No walk would be without its drama and this one was no different, as Dawn decided to perform her own version of "Dancing on Ice". This time on mud. For marks out of 10 I'd give her 7.5. Only because she couldn't hold the pirouette and landed bum first onto the muddy bank. We did laugh. To make matters worse the jacket she was wearing had just come out of the wash.
So far so good
And we're down
And not getting up in a hurry
Mud, mud and more mud
Our walk took us past the waterfall and on the other side of the track the stream runs through an area of woodland recently cleared.
The Waterfall
Recently cleared banks
Other events today, though nothing could beat Dawn's mud slide, were a Gilder being towed overhead and all the Apple Trees being pruned.
Glider
Apple trees pruned today