Blackcap and Bugle

May 22nd
Rusland Valley
On warm spring days I cannot help but return to the Rusland Valley, in fact I just can’t resist this beautiful place any time of year. Today I walked along the Beech lined road and past the woodlands, then onto Hay Bridge nature reserve, a vast expanse of damp deciduous woodland and mosses.

The Beeches along the roadside and in the woods are still very light green, but will now start to darken and so will end the Bluebell carpet that thrives in the semi-shade and looks stunning right now. Wood Anemones are still flowering here and are a few Wood Sorrels, though these are hard to find now.

Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs and Chaffinches were calling in the woods, and Wood Warblers could be heard with their quite but lovely trill from the Oaks and Beeches. A Blackcap with his very loud song was singing from deep within the trees somewhere; these birds have a cunning way of throwing their voice and so making it hard to pinpoint their exact position.

Digger Wasps were abundant today, these wasps always seem to be abundant on the roadside vegetation and on the woodland edges, I don’t know much about these so will have to study them a little bit more this summer.

Ramsons and Garlic Mustard still flowers along the roadside, attracting the Orange tip butterflies, and once again the males never seemed to stop, so not any photos yet. I have never seen a butterfly so busy, the males seem so occupied in fending off rival males and looking for a female to mate with, and they just never seem to rest.

Out in the open, and getting hotter under the heat of the sun, I found Eyebright, a tiny and attractive plant that as its name suggests is used in the treatment of eye infections, and has also been used to treat colds and coughs.

A lone Buzzard was circling over the valley, I often see a family of these preditors here, but today I only saw the one, and this one was very high up too taking advantage of the warm thermals that rise from the woodland slopes.

The only Butterfly on the roadside was a Comma, very attractive and very unusual in that their wing shape always looks as though a child has cut them out with a pair of scissors.

House Martins have returned to nest in the old Tannery building, this is a small single story stone building that is ideal for these birds, and they were darting in and out and also taking mud for from the stream edge to build their nests with.

Hay Bridge nature reserve
Bugle was flowering in the field near the stone bridge, just one patch of these blue flowers in the long grass behind a wooden gate. Sedge Warblers were singing from the edge of the streams, low down in the Reeds and always hidden from view, but what a lovely sound this is.
Germander Speedwell, Tormentil, Cuckooflower and Marsh Marigold were abundant in the boggy grassland, and a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly was flitting about from plant to plant.

Willow Warblers were singing from the Willows and from the Reeds, and a Blackcap reeled off his song from deeper in the wooded area. Not much more bird activity apart from the odd Curlew flying up and calling from above, and a Cuckoo calling from a farm in the distance.

I saw my first ever Raft Spider here though, these are a large spider that sits at the edges of ponds with its front legs dangling in the water, they dart out and catch passing Tadpoles and small fish, and probably water beetles and anything else that passes by.

So far this has been the hottest day of the year, it was perfect and in a place like this with a picnic, one could not wish for a better day out.

Elephants and Coconut

May 20th 2010
Rampside, Barrow in Furness
This was one of those days where I jumped in the car with no idea where I was going, then found myself in a place I’m glad I went to!

Ramside is a lovely part of Furness, and on this occasion I decided to go inland rather than along the coast, so I followed the lovely path that takes you around the Gas Terminal. The bridleway was awash with colour and buzzing with activity, Hawthorn flowers are now opening; I love the scent from these beautiful white flowers on a warm sunny day.

Dandelions are already going to seed, their fluffy round heads waiting for a breeze or the passing of an animal, like us, to set their seeds into the air.

The path edges are at their best right now, this time of year they look wonderful in, pink, yellow, blue and white. Pink Campion, Meadow Buttercup, Lesser Celandine, Bluebell, Bush Vetch, Common Vetch, Cuckooflower and Greater Stitchwort, all giving a perfect colourful display as they all flower together at the bottom of our hedges.

Cow Parsley is also starting to flower now; this is a tall fast growing plant of about 2-3’ with many small white flowers all carried together on an umbel. I read once that this plant is a natural Mosquito repellent when applied to the skin, though I have never tried it myself, but I am tempted as I am always being bitten.

St Marks Flies were everywhere today, these large black flies drift about with dangling legs. They are completely harmless and actually quite attractive, especially the males who have bulbous eyes.

Along the way is a pond, set amongst the shade of the surrounding trees, this is a nice place to rest and observe the different environment here. A family of Moorhens had nested on the edge of the reeds; five chicks sat patiently waiting for their parents to bring food and encourage these chicks to forage for themselves.
Bluetit, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting and Mallard were also seen and heard in this area.

The path finally emerges out on the shore, where the lovely yellow flowers of Bird’s foot trefoil were abundant. Sea Campion, Scurvy Grass and Thrift were also flowering along the shore. Then I found the star of the show, an Elephant Hawk Moth that appeared to be resting amongst the grass on the sandy shore. These moths have very unusual colours, being green and pink and having white legs makes them look very odd and yet very beautiful, who says moths are ugly?

I cannot end this without mentioning the Gorse that is flowering around the coast right now, the yellow flowers not only look stunning on a sunny day, the smell incredible too. The flowers smell of coconut and can be detected from quite a distance from the bush as the scent drifts on the breeze, and make these shrubs an absolutely delightful treasure, and the bees love them too.

Blue and Green Delight

Sat May 15th
The Rusland Valley
Today’s walk was in one of my favourite places; The Rusland Valley.
If there is one perfect place to be on a sunny May afternoon, then the Beech woods in this valley is that place. When the Beech leaves have just opened there is a certain green haze to these woods as the sunlight shines through the new fresh lime-green leaves, and shines down on the Bluebell carpet below the trees.

Orange-Tip Butterflies were flitting along the roadside, taking advantage of the Garlic Mustard that flowers here, the male Orange Tip Butterflies have, as their name implies, lovely orange tips to their for-wings, the females lack these orange markings but are otherwise similar. I am still trying to get a photo of a male Orange-Tip, but unfortunately they never seem to stay still long enough to get close to, I will do it one day though!
Another Butterfly seen here was the Green-Veined White; these have a green veined pattern on their wings, hence the name.

One of my favourite birds was calling from high in the Beech trees, the Wood Warbler, this bird is very small but has a nice olive, yellow and white plumage, and has a sweet song that starts slowly but accelerates into a fast trill. This is a summer visitor arriving here from Tropical Africa each spring; they are a bird of broad-leaved woodland and typical of Oak, Birch and Beech woodlands.

Other summer migrants heard were Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Swallow and Cuckoo. The usual birds like Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch were also very vocal as our woodlands are full of bird song right now.

The woodland edges are blooming with new spring flowers, some of the flowers here include Lesser Celandine, Greater Celandine, Dog Violet, Ramsons, Herb Robert, Dandelion, Wild Arum and Ground Ivy.
Wood Anemone is still flowering in the woodlands, these lovely large white flowers are always a joy to see in the spring sunshine, and quite often the flowers have a pink tinge to them too.

Most of our trees are now in leaf, and this is a special time of year as the trees give the woodlands an amazing colourful effect right now. The trees all seem to have a colour that is unique to each species right now, and my favourite are the Oaks who seem to have a golden-yellow colour in spring.

There are plenty of Bumble Bees about now, and Hoverflies too, Dung Beetles are also plentiful on the woodland floor and the tree canopy is once again buzzing with insect life, and a wonderful sound on a warm spring day.

The star of the show right now though are the Bluebells, surely these have to be top of the list of people’s favourite wildflower, they are certainly one of my favourites. Can there be any nice sight than the blue carpet in our woodlands on a warm and sunny spring day? I don’t think so, especially when the Beech leaves are fresh and the sun shines through them.
Get out and enjoy it, it is all for free, unlike most things in life!

Blue and Green Delight

Sat May 15th
The Rusland Valley
Today’s walk was in one of my favourite places, the Rusland Valley.
If there is a perfect place to be on a sunny May afternoon, the Beech woodlands in this beautiful valley have to be that place.

When the Beech leaves have just opened, an amazing green
haze filters down into these woods, sunlight shines through the new fresh lime-green leaves and shines down on the sweet carpet of Blubell on the woodland floor.

Orange-tip Butterflies were flitting along the roadside and taking advantage of the Garlic Mustard that flowers here, the male Orange tip Butterflies have, as their name implies, lovely orange tips to their for-wings. The females lack these orange markings but are otherwise similar.
I am still trying to get a photo of a male Orange-tip, but unfortunately they never seem to stay still long enough to get close to, I will do it one day though!
Another Butterfly seen here was the Green-Veined White, these have a green veined pattern on their wings, hence their name.

One of my favourite birds, Wood Warblers, were calling from high in the Beech trees. Wood Warblers are very small and have an olive, yellow and white plumage. They also have a sweet song that starts slowly but accelerates into a fast trill. Wood Warblers are summer visitors, arriving here from Tropical Africa each spring, they are a bird of broad-leaved woodland and typical of Oak, Birch and Beech woodlands.

Some other summer migrants i heard were Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Swallow and Cuckoo. Other birds like Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch were also very vocal; this is the time of year when our woodlands are full of bird song.

The woodland edges are blooming with new spring flowers, some of the flowers here included Lesser Celandine, Greater Celandine, Greater Stitchwort, Dog Violet, Ramsons, Herb Robert, Dandelion, Wild Arum and Ground Ivy.
Wood Anemone is still flowering in the woodlands, these lovely large white flowers are always a joy to see in the spring sunshine, quite often the flowers have a pink tinge to them too.

Most of our trees are now in leaf, this is a special time of year as the trees give the woodlands an amazing colourful effect right now. The trees all seem to have a colour that is unique to each species right now, my favourite is the Oak; they have a golden-yellow colour in spring.

There are plenty of Bumble Bees about now, Hoverflies too. Dung Beetles are also plentiful on the woodland floor. The tree canopy is once again buzzing with insect life, the noise is such a wonderful sound on a warm spring day.

The star of the show right now though are the Bluebells, surely these have to be top of the list of our favourite wildflowers, they are certainly one of my favourites. Can there be any nice sight than the blue carpet in our woodlands on a warm and sunny spring day? I don’t think so, especially when the Beech leaves are fresh and streaks of green sunlight is shining through them.
Get out and enjoy it, it is all for free, unlike most things in life!

CATastrophe!

Catastrophe!
Citizens of the UK, we have a problem!
This is a very serious problem that I think we all need to be aware of, we need to do something about it NOW before the problem gets worse.
There is a vermin problem in the UK that is now out of control and the time has come to make everyone aware of this epidemical problem.

Did you know there are an estimated 500 million domestic Cats in the world? Almost 8 million here in the UK. The number is expected to double over the next ten years and that would surely be a Catastrophe!
I just don’t think people realise how much of a problem this is and sadly most people are just oblivious to this as they go about in their blinkered ways.

Why do we live in such a hypocritical society? You see we have the nerve to go about classing some wild animals as ‘vermin’, and yet we keep Cats as pets when they are possibly the worst vermin of them all.

Diseases
Zoonosis (the spread of diseases from animals to humans) is common among Cats, many children catch Roundworm and Ringworm from both Cats and Dogs. The deseese can also cause children to go blind.
Many parents buy cute kittens for their children and i think everyone should be made aware of these threats they pose.

Cats are the most deadliest of stalkers and a perfect hunting machine, if you ever watch a Cat you will see how they are always alert and ready to kill anything that moves. A Cat will appear lazy and slow, as if conserving energy, but as soon as anything runs by he springs into action immediately, with a ferocious burst of energy.

Domestic Cats kill more wildlife in this country than any other animal. Cats have a massive impact on our garden bird population, often raiding their nests for the chicks or killing the adults as they forage for food. Cats also kill Rats, Mice, Voles, Moles, Shrews and countless species of insects, all of which are all a vital part of countryside.

Cats also foul our gardens and, bread all year round producing kittens that end up as feral Cats and reek devastation on our wildlife. They are also known to bread with our native Scottish Wildcat and so devastating the population of these native animals.

Cull
People always bang on about Rats, Mice, Moles, Foxes Badgers, Grey Squirrels, Mink, Otters and other animals, classing them as ‘Vermin.'
It is legal to kill most of those animals, in fact it’s only recently that Otters have become a protectedanimal.
All of the above-mentioned animals, with exception to the introduced Grey Squirrel and Mink, are very important wild animals in the UK, they all need protecting. So if it is ok to kill Greys Squirrels and Mink because they don’t belong here and are a pest, then why doesn’t the same apply to our introduced domestic Cats?

Come on citizens of the UK, wake up and let’s get this problem sorted. It's time to have a mass Cull and if it means getting rid of Grandma’s little 'Tiddles,' then so it shall be; it is for the good of our Green and pleasant land!

Vote for change!

Three Lions
With the Football World Cup coming up this summer, I have noticed an increasing number of England flags on cars and houses, also England shirts and all things with the England logo on them are everywhere to be seen. The thing that bugs me is why we have three Lions on our shirts and flags.

Now I have been around for quite a while now, I have covered many miles in this time too and seen a lot of wildlife, but I have yet to see a Lion on any of my walks.
We clearly do not have Lions roaming around our green and pleasant land, I am glad about that too.

There is one Lion we do have in our countryside and gardens though, the beautiful Dandelion!

Everybody in every village, town and city knows the Dandelion, it is one of our most important and familiar wildflowers. I would love to see everyone join in my campaign by writing to the Prime Minister and demanding that we get rid of the three Lions and replace them with a good old English Dandelion, yes the Dandelion should be celebrated as our national flower.

If the Scots can have a Thistle, the Irish have a Shamrock and the Welsh have a Leek, then why shouldn't we have a Dandelion? And i know Rugby shirts have a red Rose on them, but that only causes conflict as us Yorkshire folk would rather see a white Rose.

Every person who represents England in any sport should wear the Dandelion on their shirt with pride, so come on and get behind me on this campaign.

There should only be one lion on our England shirts, the good old English Dandelion!

Jigsaw Feeling!

Our Role
The sickening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico now threatens 5 states and up to 5,000 barrels of oil are gushing into the sea each day, it is expected the figure could rise too.
This is just another example of what man is capable of, it got me wondering once more about what role the Human Race has on this beautiful planet?

It always amazes me how us humans seem to take so much from this planet without actually contributing in any way to the smooth cycle of life, life that has existed here for millions of years. I look at the entire world like a huge jigsaw, everything fits perfectly together to make this picture, except for one piece, that piece is the Human Race!

If you look at any other piece of this jigsaw, you will notice how it has a specific role to play, and even the things we label as pests, weeds or vermin are all an important part of this jigsaw.

We on the other hand just take, poison, and pollute. We clutter with our waste and foul with our sewage, we continuously push many things like insects, plants, fish, birds and animals to extinction. We kill for sport, leave the seas almost empty of Fish, Whales and many other creatures, cut down the rain forests and drill and mine for everything we can leach from Mother Earth. All the time we are doing these things we never actually seem to put anything back.

Self-Destruct
It also seems to me that us Humans are the only creatures who as well as fouling and poisoning the very place where we live, we also enjoy destroying our own bodies too with things like alcohol, nicotine and many other hard substances. We even build weapons of mass destruction, why? Because we can!
All this makes me wonder if we are just going to self-destruct in a short time, i sometimes wonder what this beautiful world will be like without Humans?

The Dinosours once walked this planet and for reasons scientists still argue over, became extinct. It now seems to me that we too will one day become extinct, but not by the impact of a comet hitting Earth, no, I suspect it will be by our own hand!

We think we rule this planet, we don’t and I will end this with a quote by David Attenborough:

‘If all the insects on this planet died out tomorrow, Man would not live very long at all. However, if Man died out tomorrow, the insects of our world would barely notice’!