We left home this morning to drive to Littleferry with the thermometer registering a blistering 8C. Fortunately, the northerly wind was light but the low temperature suggested that the objective of our visit - to see if the first wild orchids were showing - was unlikely to be achieved. That said, we almost immediately found....
....a small colony of what I have identified as marsh cranesbill, a geranium variety which may be an escapee from one of the local gardens. If the cranesbill was a little unexpected this early, the....
....two small jellyfish found stranded along last night's high tide line were even more so. We hardly saw a jellyfish last summer so perhaps they're making a timely start this year.
Leaving the beach to walk back to the car along the paths which criss-cross the links, we found something even more unexpected in such cool conditions....
....a small skipper; and then, to make it quite clear that this was not a one-off, a second, both of which stayed very still while their pictures were taken.
Rather as we had anticipated, we didn't find any orchids but, as if to make up for our disappointment, the dainty viola pansies were out in force; and when we.....
....returned home, Tsuro was here to greet us.
Quite how you capture the birds in their song has always amaised me. My attempts always result in a distant blurr of feathers as they scarper when they see my camera. You probably intended to write Small Copper but thought I'd mention it to avoid confusion. The butterflies have been out inforce here in Devon all May, including three Painted Lady butterflies which, due to their faided appearance, have either travelled up from the Mediterranean very quickly or overwintered in our now milder climate. The Early Purple Orchids are out and baby chick noises are coming from all nest holes.
ReplyDeleteOoops - many thanks for the species correction, Derryck.
DeleteYour spring is miles ahead of our one. Not surprising - the temperature outdoors on Friday-Saturday night was 5C.