Adder Survey

This morning I surveyed three sites in the Suffolk sandlings for Adders in site A,B & C a total of 27. Also found a singing Dartford Warbler, flushed a woodcock and found a single Common Lizard.

Searching for spring flowers

Visited my favorite site for spring flowers today, a small reserve by the River Waveney. The cup fungus Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elf Cup)was plentiful and is a common fungus of Alder Carr. Both the Adoxa moschatellina (Town Hall Clock)
and chrysosplenium oppositifolium (Opposite-leaved Golden-Saxifrage)had flower buds but as yet were not fully open for inclusion into the WFS diary. The diary to me is a phenological study and it is so important to record correct flowering dates.
This Sarcoscypha sp is the more common of the two known in the UK although I did find both species in the broads.

Wayland way

Spent a few hours systematically searching for Gagea lutea (Yellow star of Bethleham)
in Wayland Wood Watton Norfolk. I did not find any at all but saw two Brimstones, two Small Tortoiseshells and a Peacock. Lots of Ladybirds too.
Finally a Common Buzzard was heard calling overhead.

The Blyth Valley

The flowers are just not appearing this year. At one site in Blyford Eileen and I were looking for Butterbur but so far not so much as one flower spike. We visited several sites around Halesworth and Holton along with Wenhaston Blackheath. Nothing at all in flower and very bare. Only the churchyards were worth a visit but even after many visits they begin to pall. We found some more Galium eldwesii but we have had nothing new since 1st March. Just a day of sunshine could push a few plants to flower.
These Primroses were at Stoven Churchyard.

Snowdrop Species

The Snowdrops are now in full flower and although later than usual I did find two Snowdrop species in a local churchyard. Along with the common Galathus nivalis I found G.elwesii and the rarer G.woronowii. This was the culmination of lots of churchyard visits in the Waveney Valley and it was this churchyard near Beccles that produced the goods. This photograph shows the green inner sepals of G. elwesii.

Wildflowers and nesting birds

I spent a good few hours in Beccles on Wednesday to look for Long tailed tit nests for the BTO nest recording scheme but I did not find any as yet. Rooks were nest building on Boney's Island and there were plenty of Chaffinches and other common song birds.

Spring has sprung or maybe just today

I had a great morning looking for flowering plants for the start of the annual Wild Flower society Diary. I amassed 12 species. a big surprise was a flowering Ranunculus repens. Some do overwinter but I did not expect one today as it has been a rum old winter. Rooks were busy nest building or repairing and at times it did feel like spring.