Has Spring Sprung?

After giving up on a cliff top walk yesterday I took advantage of the calm conditions today to walk from the monument to Hope Point and beyond. It was a slow walk, but enjoyable in the early spring sunshine.

At least two Meadow Pipits were singing on the stretch down to the point, but in addition there were quite a lot of birds on the edge of the big field. They seem to use the small "bank" made by the edge of the grass and the ploughed field to shelter in. I think that many of these birds are migrants or winter visitors and not the breeding residents. Skylarks were also in good voice but the hoped for first Wheatear of the year did not appear.

The patches of gorse bushes near Hope point were attracting a lot of insects, including several Buff-tailed Bumble Bees, Bombus terrestris. This is a widespread and common bumble bee. The large, conspicuous overwintered queens are often among the first bumble bees to appear in spring, often occurring in late February/early March.

There were two Stonechats in the area, but they were extremely active, and never remained in one place long enough for me to get anywhere close.

When I got to Little Green I though that they had got a crop of large button mushrooms, sprouting on the lawn. A closer look proved them to be golf balls. It takes a pretty bad hood to get them there from the fairway behind the garden.

A closer look at the technique (or lack of it) of some of the golfers probably explained the number of balls on the lawn!

The moth traps were empty last night, but beautifully not the Milan net...