Toft Churchyard 24 March

I am trying to find a good way of keeping visual plus species detail records of the survey that I am doing of the insect and other invertebrate etc life in Toft Churchyard this year. So far this is the best of have been able to come up with that doesn't involve any steps outside Lightroom which I use for cataloguing

Pasque Flowers Beginning at Royston Heath

The Pasque flowers are just beginning to flower - a bit later than some years but will probably be best around Easter as their name suggests. They are very short so quite a challenge to photograph plus a stiff breeze today. Most are Focus stacks using Fuji X100V and Raynox 250 close-up lens. I find this a very useful high quality combination for flower photography. We found one very small bee - a Lasioglossum species

Churchyard Survey Toft 20/03/23

Delighted to record the first Hairy-footed Flower bees and the solitary bee Andrena bicolor (both males) at Toft Churchyard yesterday, along with a 7-spot ladybird and a very small Ichneumon wasp. There also some very attractive toadstool - Scurfy Twiglet Tubaria furfuracea blending in perfectly with the scales from the Cypress Cedar.

Spring Markers 2023

Every year on March 20th I record what is in flower in the garden. It is a comparatively late spring this year in the garden with the Plum blossom and Japonica still in bud and no real sign of flowers on the Cowslips or bluebells. The primroses, however, are extra good. Here are the flowers that are in bloom

Through the Kitchen Window

I decided to leave the seed heads of the Evening Primrose that are outside our backdoor a little longer and was rewarded yesterday with these Goldfinches feeding on the heads - plus a visiting 'black' Grey Squirrel.

 

Long-tailed Tits Nest Building

I spent an hour yesterday watching a pair of Long-tailed Tits building their nest in a bramble patch - impossible to get clear views but such a delight to see them bringing moss, lichen and cobwebs and weaving their nest. They are about halfway there as the final nest will be a complete ball with a single small entrance.