A retrospective on the Lockdown period.
On a glorious sunny spring day, The Bee Girl and I made our way to one of the survey sites in the grounds of the National Stone Centre. There were a few people still enjoying the sunny weather but visitor numbers were definitely down since the Government advised us all to Remain Indoors. This was our permitted exercise. Walks will be limited to those from our front doors, for the foreseeable future. Still, beats working.
There were a good few fat queen Bumblebees about, a Bombus hypnorum, a few B leucorum, and hundreds of Bee mimic hoverflies. A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, recently awoken from his winter torpor, was on the wing near the closed cafe. Blue Tits and Blackbirds sung enthusiastically to a blue sky.
Approaching Middleton Top, a passing Buzzard flushed big flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing, these wintering species still very much present alongside Butterflies and the spring Bees. Another Buzzard allowed close approach as I returned along an eerily quiet Middleton to Wirksworth road.
Birds sighted were: Pheasant, Buzzard, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Raven, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Starling, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Redwing, Robin, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Bullfinch.
On a glorious sunny spring day, The Bee Girl and I made our way to one of the survey sites in the grounds of the National Stone Centre. There were a few people still enjoying the sunny weather but visitor numbers were definitely down since the Government advised us all to Remain Indoors. This was our permitted exercise. Walks will be limited to those from our front doors, for the foreseeable future. Still, beats working.
There were a good few fat queen Bumblebees about, a Bombus hypnorum, a few B leucorum, and hundreds of Bee mimic hoverflies. A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, recently awoken from his winter torpor, was on the wing near the closed cafe. Blue Tits and Blackbirds sung enthusiastically to a blue sky.
Approaching Middleton Top, a passing Buzzard flushed big flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing, these wintering species still very much present alongside Butterflies and the spring Bees. Another Buzzard allowed close approach as I returned along an eerily quiet Middleton to Wirksworth road.
Birds sighted were: Pheasant, Buzzard, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Raven, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Starling, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Redwing, Robin, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Bullfinch.
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| Buzzard |
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| Sculpture at the National Stone Centre |
A Walk to Bolehill and Back 30th March 2020
Setting out for an afternoon stroll, Natty and I walked beneath a lead grey sky. By our return in the sunset the sky was blue, small clouds picked out and lined by a red sunset, a magnificent display of greens and blues and long shadows.
Bees buzzed and birds sang, white and purple violents and golden celandines bloomed. Flies danced in the air and briefly, the sound of a mosquito bothered my ear. We placed figurative bets on when the first Swallows would appear and make a summer. I gave it less than a fortnight. We met few humans, fewer than the previous day. Woodpeckers drummed unseen, and Chiffchaff numbers appear to have risen, with so many singing. This was the kind of stroll of which summer evenings are made.
Birds Sighted were: Pheasant, Grey Heron, Woodpigeon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Magpie, Jackdaw, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, Chaffinch, Goldfinch.
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| Celandine |
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