Spring in my step

March 23, 2015 / clivebaker5 / Leave a comment

Unfortunately my website blog has had to take a back seat these last few weeks due to my wife having an accident, so family life has been priority these last 4 weeks, she is recovering well and I feel now we are into Spring and we have had a few warm sunny days this has helped her recovery and lifted not only hers but everybody’s spirits.

You only have to walk in the East Anglian countryside at the moment at any time of the day and the birds are singing (I heard my first chiffchaff today) and flowers are opening, blossom is out on the trees and I have even seen hawthorn leaves starting to open.

In the spare hours I have had I managed to get out and take some images, so I shall share a couple here today.

But as a warning in about the weather we are not quite out of the woods yet, I can see in my copy of the book ‘ The Carlton Colville Chronicles of Canon Reginald Austus Bignold ‘ the Canon had entered ” March 19th 1915 It has been snowing heavily for twenty-four hours “, Well 100 years ago it may have been but you never know.

Round spiky seeds hanging down from branches

The seeds of a plane tree against the Spring sky

Catkins of the pussy willow

Reedmace often called bulrush by mistake

Male Blackbird one of the many birds singing early in the mornings in Spring.

Pictures speak louder than words

March 10, 2015 / clivebaker5 / Leave a comment

Sometimes it is hard to explain in words why I as a person born in Suffolk and still living in East Anglia enjoys the East Anglian landscape so much, I know places in this small island can be dramatic and can make the heart sing in appreciation on the beauty of the mountains, lakes and dales not to mention the coastline, but it is here I feel most content traveling the Fens of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, the Coast of Suffolk and Norfolk, breckland and broads we have it all.

It is a landscape that has changed many times over the years, but still has its magic as I hope these few images I took yesterday morning will show.

The dawn breaks in Ely, Cambridgeshire

These houses have seen quite a few sunrises in Ely, Cambridgeshire

Trees in the early morning mist of the Cambridgeshire fens

The heat of the rising sun burns away the mist in the fens

start of a working day as a farmer heads for a days work in the fields

The Spring Collection

March 9, 2015 / clivebaker5 / Leave a comment

This last weekend saw the East Anglian counties touched by the first taste of Spring, a Sunny day and warmth in the Sun not only brought out the sound of lawn mowers but sightings of Brimstone and Peacock butterflies, even the odd Queen bumblebee out of hibernation from the old mouse-hole where she would have spent the winter.

But if you have not heard it is the birds that are hailing that the days of Spring are on the way, Song thrush, Robin and Blackbird are the early risers singing their hearts out in the darkness before dawn to be joined by dunnock and wren as the sun creeps over the eastern counties.

And whilst many a bird watcher is waiting for the Spring migrants to arrive our own resident birds are displaying not only their fine voices but also how splendid they are looking in their plumage in a few months the chores of raising a family will leave them looking not so fine and dandy, but for now enjoy our wildlife as they prepare for Spring and as a taster here is just some of the birds displaying their Spring collection on natures ‘Catwalk’

Blue tit

Greenfinch

Great Tit

Robin

A charm of Goldfinches

View from the train

March 4, 2015 / clivebaker5 / Leave a comment

I am always amazed at what you can see when traveling by train, I am also amazed at what most of the other travelers miss.

Take this week on my 20 minute train journey from Ely to Cambridge I can get quite a total on my list, it is almost like traveling in a mobile hide so far on Monday’s journey home I listed 1 buzzard, 12 roe deer, flock of fieldfares, 1 marsh harrier and 1 female merlin.

The following morning, two roe deer, 1 barn owl, in the evening trip home, roe deer and marsh harrier, this morning 1 buzzard, 1 barn owl, now take in to account it is only just getting light by the time we are approaching Cambridge in the mornings I am expecting the list to get better as the mornings get lighter.

I am sure there is more that I miss, but I always enjoy my train journeys as I can wildlife spot even if the train can be a bit packed.

Common Buzzard

Life in the old pond

March 1, 2015 / clivebaker5 / Leave a comment

Meteorologists would tell us that March 1st is the beginning of Spring but we would define Spring in the northern hemisphere as starting at the March equinox in astronomical terms, usually around March 19th to 21st, but already in my garden pond the frogs are stirring already I have seen four today and at least three are mating, I saw two males clasping a female holding tightly to her she was a crimson colour and I feared they may have been killing her, however I did notice later one had let go and she was mating with one male.

Frogs mating in the garden pond

The Common frog is average size of 50 – 111mm and varies in colour from light brown to olive-green, the young males usually overwinter in water, so you can sometimes hear the males croaking to attract a female who would have spent the winter under cover in a log pile or under a paving slab in the garden anywhere she could get shelter from the winter elements.

Common frog

Frogs normally breed about mid April, but you may find frogspawn in your garden pond any time after the New Year depending on how mild the winter has been, I shall keeps an eye out this next week to see if any appears in the pond, but we could still have a cold snap and any ice may make any frogspawn there is sink to the bottom of the pond.

But for now I will just keep counting the frogs and think we are only a couple of weeks away from saying it is really Spring.