Butterflies and wild flowers at Cranford Park today

This morning at 8.30 I was sharing my breakfast as always, with the resident wood circle Robins.

Today we had oat cookie, raisins and some grapes....

 

 

Sadly also at the wood circle I came across a very sick young rabbit. Look away now if you're a bit squeamish..........

 

This poor rabbit has the beginnings of Myxomatosis, a really nasty man-introduced disease that affects both wild and domestic rabbits. This youngster will be dead within two weeks. It was very sad watching it out in the open feeding within a few feet of me, and twice I tried to usher it down the nearest warren. But I fear if the disease doesn't kill it, a predator will. There's nothing I can do, and I try to intervene in nature as less as possible. If I did catch it and take it to a vet, they wouldn't thank me as the disease is so contagious.

Sorry for the images....

 

 

This is the link to the Myxomatosis website which gives much more information about this awful disease. I've already contacted them so they can put out a Twitter alert for the TW5 area. As I state above, this disease can spread to pet rabbits and the society likes to make every pet rabbit owner aware if the disease is in their area.

 

This isn't the first time I've seen Myxomatosis at Cranford Park but the last outbreak I'm aware of was several years ago, and coincidentally I witnessed it at exactly the same rabbit warren.

 

It added a sad tinge to an otherwise glorious day. The skies were blue, there was barely a whisper of wind, even Martin had rolled up his trousers and was basking on his favoured bench in the sun. The temperature even hit double figures mid morning. There were birds singing, butterflies flying, wild flowers blooming and I got to see both Linnets and Stock Doves mating, though I wasn't lucky enough to get any photos.

 

I also caught a glimpse of one of the Buzzards land firstly on the edge of the nest, then drop in to it before hopping out again seconds later and flying away. This could have been the male bringing in food to the female who hopefully is incubating eggs now.

 

A few days ago a pair of teens were witnessed taking an air rifle in to the woods and firing it up at trees. The Police were called but I don't know if they caught the oiks. It's reasons like this that I purposely NEVER publicise exactly where I see nests. If it's a common bird like the Wren, then I will sometimes publicise the general area. The Wren's nest that Martin found is near the Information Centre but I'm not going to describe it's exact location. So with the Buzzard nest I wont be describing the general area nor the exact location. This is the first time that I know of, that Buzzards have chosen to nest at this wonderful park, and I will monitor it from a discreet distance and post updates on this blog.

 

Other great news, though not at Cranford Park, is that the first of the Peregrine eggs have hatched at Charing Cross. My good friend, Nathalie, monitors the birds there and has posted some lovely vid clips and photos of the young eyass being fed. You can follow their story on the Fulham and Barnes Peregrines Facebook page. Last year none of the eggs hatched and later analysis revealed they weren't fertilised, so this little two day old eyass is very special indeed.

 

Back to Cranford Park I was joined by Sue at lunchtime and we watched a male Blackcap singing right above our heads.....Lovely to hear but an achy neck to photograph....

 

 

The park really was looking glorious with all the fresh leaves emerging......

 

There were plenty of butterflies on the wing today and some were being very obliging and posing for a photo shoot....

 

There was this very tatty looking Peacock, well past looking it's best but there were several fresh ones out as well this morning.....

 

Peacock

 

Plenty of Green-veined Whites around today. The one below is a male. The females have slightly different and larger markings on the upper wings....

male Green-veined White

 

In the photo below of the underwing, you can see why they are called Green-veined Whites....

underwing of male Green-veined White

 

There were lots of Commas about. Most could be found sunning themselves on the ground.....

Comma

 

In the woodland there were a few fresh specimens of Speckled Woods out sourcing territories. I've always found these pretty butterflies are the most territorial. Once they've staked out a patch of their own, they will see off any others that dare fly through it.....

Speckled Wood

 

And my first tiny Holly Blue of the year settled right in front of me....

This is a male. The female has a thicker black band on the edge of its upper wing....

male Holly Blue

 

and the stunning markings of a male Holly Blue underwing...

underwing male Holly Blue

 

Emerging from the nettle patches were several Small Tortoiseshell....

Small Tortoiseshell

 

No underwing photo, but I did get a photo of it's head......

Small Tortoiseshell

 

I also had my first Orange Tip of the year. There were at least three males around the Headland area this morning. The males have the bright orange tips on the upper wing, and the females have the same sized black tips on their upper wing. I didn't see any females today but I bet I do on my next visit...

male Orange Tip

 

I tried to get an underwing shot of the Orange Tip but it was very flighty. The underwing is very intricately marked and beautiful....

male Orange Tip

 

After photographing butterflies, I turned my attention to the wild flowers that can now be seen at the park.

 

The bluebells are still putting on a good display.

The photo below is of the 'baddie' - the invasive Spanish Bluebell....

 

 

Note the upright thick stem, thick strappy leaves and large bell flowers whose petals don't quite curve all the way back.

Compared to our native true Bluebells photographed below.....

 

Thinner paler leaves, nodding heads of delicate flowers whose petals curve all the way back until they're almost touching the bell shaped flower.

 

Another way to tell the difference is to turn a bell upside down and check the colour of the pollen stamens. True Bluebells have creamy white stamens, the Spanish Bluebell has blue stamens.

 

A garden escapee is flowering in St Dunstan's church yard. This is a Wood Anemone, but not a true native one.

 

 

Along the alleyway leading to the underpass the path is flowering either side with the statuesque Green Alkanet. This is one of the earliest spring wild flower to bloom....

 

We have both Sweet Violets and Dog Violets at Cranford Park. This little lovely Sweet Violet has self seeded in a tiny crevice right by St Dunstan's church door....

 

There are lots of good sized spreads of Lesser Celandine all over the park and in the woods.....

 

The Ground Ivy has started flowering in the last week. The tiny delicate flowers have beautiful markings....

 

There are several small clumps of Forget Me Not in the church grounds. Not really a true wild flower but very pretty and which self seeds rapidly....

 

The Cuckoo Flowers are still popping up all over the church yard. My photo doesn't do them justice. They are a wonderful shade of pale dusky pink.....

 

I have only ever found Herb Robert in one particular area in Cranford Woods. But it's spreading really well and the patch is getting bigger each year....

 

There were more Red Campion in flower than a few days ago.....

 

White Dead Nettle is blooming every where. Very attractive to bees and hoverflies....

 

and the Red Dead Nettle is flowering as well....

 

Lastly, probably the most abundant wild flower is the one that flowers first, provides valuable nectar for all the early emerging bees, hoverflies and butterflies yet is the one that is mostly ignored, or even worse, purposely destroyed......

 

It's the humble Dandelion......

This one has attracted a hoverfly, Melanostoma scalare......

 

and Sue got a photo of a Tawny Mining Bee on another.

Scroll back through my photos above and you'll see how many butterflies are also attracted to this 'weed'.

 

It was a lovely day out on the patch. Six hours nature watching and over 14,000 steps on the Fitbit.

The only sour note was that poor young rabbit. I can only hope nature runs it's course sooner rather than later and that rabbit doesn't suffer for too long.