Although it was a bit overcast today, I've missed being at Cranford Park. My last visit was 17th January but it seems much longer than just a few weeks.
I went straight to the wild beehive in the woods, and again found no honeybees around but the comb still looks intact.....
However in St Dunstans church yard I found plenty of honeybees and they were all after the succulent pollen of the recently flowering crocuses....
There were plenty of crocuses for them to choose from...
The Snowdrops are also well in to their blooming season, though the biggest spread of them are in 'Hancocks Corner'.....
There was one particular grave that I wanted to find today. One of the Cranford Park Friends, Ann McNamara, had mentioned that her father, Sgt. Ronald McNamara, is buried here and as she now lives in Australia, she wondered if he had Snowdrops on his grave.
I'm glad to say he does. A whole mature clump of them.....
Bluebell leaves are in evidence all over the woods and the church yard. It looks like it's going to be a good display in May...
On this one log above (which gets surrounded by Bluebells in spring) I found three individual types of fungi...
The first is one of my favourites, the 'Eyelash' fungus. You can see just how tiny this little fruiting body is compared to the twenty pence piece...
There were also some young and old 'King Alfred Cakes'.....
and one tiny sample of 'Jelly Ears'....
They were just on the one log, a favourite perch of mine.
Elsewhere around the woods the 'Candlesnuff' fungi that I've been watching over the last few months, is really looking it's best now....
The below fungi is, I think, 'False Turkey Tail' and doesn't bear the same colouring as the true 'Turkey Tail'...
and the colourful monster below is a type of Ganoderma....
I'm no moss expert, so couldn't tell you the name of the one below. It just caught my eye today and called out to be photographed....
Along the River Crane I caught a tantalising glimpse of one of the Little Grebes (back now the water levels have dropped) but couldn't get any photos. There was no sign of either the Little Egret nor the Kingfishers. But I did find some Muntjac droppings, quite fresh, so he/she must have had a nice walk by the river during the night.....
I was chatting to Yvonne, and petting her dog Janie, when a Kestrel flew past us and perched near by. It was nice to be able to point it out to Yvonne.
It stayed there for some time, allowing me to grab a couple of half decent photos in the gloomy light....
It then flew off and settled in another tree which allowed me to take a closer look at its plumage. I thought at first the bird was a female, but looking again at my photos I think this is a juvenile male. The tail feathers in the photo above clinch it for me but I've had to ask for help from the UK Bird ID facebook page, so this post may be edited in a few hours if I'm wrong......hahaha
It hasn't yet got it's steel grey head feathers.
To end todays blog post is a couple of photos of the delightful Janie. I've not had a doggie pic on my blog for ages.
So here she is.......
What a little character.
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