The sun comes out as the world goes into lockdown (weeks 12-17)

The swallows are slowly coming back, the swans are pairing up, the cow parsley is out in flower - spring is here. 

The weather has warmed considerably. Following the rain, rain and more rain that began the year we've had glorious sunshine which has dried the ground and made walking much easier.

Dried mud

The roe deer have been around recently. There's a group of three that are often found around a clump of trees north of the North Drove in the mornings.

Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Life in the streams is also getting more visible. Tadpoles, minnows, pond skaters and diving beetles are common and I've even seen a water cricket!

Minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus)

The plant life is busting, the cow parsley is abundant and looks so beautiful with their lacy white flowers, delicate foliage and straight red stems. It's easy to think that cow parsley is the only plant in flower right now but it's not. I'm spotting species that I've not seen before, like Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum). I've only found one clump so far, near the Watery Lane entrance to the Drove, but that's not a surprise as it's not a particularly common species inland.

Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)

Cuckoo flowers are also coming out, right on schedule. They aren't as abundant as some years but are lovely all the same.

Cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis)

On the invertebrate front there's many, many species appearing. On a calm day the hedges and verges are bursting with life - spiders and flies being being particularly common. One morning the goose grass was covrered in large black flies which were incredibly docile. A quick look in the ID book revealed they were St Mark's flies, so-called because they get active around St Mark's Day, which is the 25th April. So they're a few days early. 

 St Mark's fly (Bibio marci)

Finally, the grasses are coming out. I'm going to try and work on my ID skills for those over the next few weeks but I've already (hopefully) identified a pendulous sedge which is growing by the parish brook.

Pendulous sedge (Carex pendula)

I'm working on a species list for the flora and fauna. It's got over 160 species identified and about 100 more to identify, and each walk I'm finding more. Suffice it to say, there's plenty to keep up going!