A blustery day at Cranford Park

It was a very blustery day at Cranford Park today

 

Bob Barton and I led the annual Bluebell Walk and Talk and luckily even though it was windy the rain did hold off

 

The bluebells were out roughly 7-10 days earlier than last year but the overall display was still good

 

 

and the usual small patch of native white Bluebells were in the churchyard - the only place I ever see them in the whole of the park

 

The Red Campion is starting to come in to flower

 

After the walk we all congregated in the Information Centre where Charmian and Christopher were talking to visitors about the proposals for the park via the Lottery Heritage Fund

 

It was a very good turn out considering the weather forecast was not great

 

I had a solo wander around the woods and park afterwards and found a pair of Mistle Thrushes by the outdoor classroom

 

 

There were Robins singing all over the park

 

 

One of the benefits of knowing all the regular dog walkers is that they share any interesting sightings with me - one of them told me had been watching a pair of warblers diving in and out of a nettle and bramble patch by the river so I went to investigate

 

It is actually a pair of Chiffchaff and I managed to get a couple of photos - as they are definitely creating a nest I did not linger but I will check on the site again

 

 

The cold wind and lack of sun meant I did not see one butterfly the whole time I was at the park

 

But in some of the sheltered areas I found several hoverflies - they appeared to be very inactive - probably conserving energy during this chilly day

 

Melanostama scalare

Syrphus vitripennis

Syrphus vitripennis

Syrphus torvus

Syrphus sp

A very productive day with a great group of interested visitors on the Bluebell Walk and Talk and a good stroll around on my own afterwards

 

 

 

Honeybee swarm and more at Cranford Park

Primarily I was at Cranford Park today to do my regular UKBMS transect and the warm weather rewarded me with a total of 31 butterflies of seven different species

 

Brimstone x 2

Small White x 1

Orange Tip x 6

Holly Blue x 1

Peacock x 8

Comma x 5

Speckled Wood x 8

 

Most of the Speckled Woods were relay fresh indicating they had only recently emerged

 

 

but the individual below looks to have been a victim of a bird attack and was missing part of its lower wing

 

The Small White I saw today (below) was a solitary female and my first of the year

 

 

My first Holly Blue of the year was this male

 

Female Holly Blues have a much broader black band on their upper wing

 

Comma

But the most prolific were the Peacocks

These large butterflies are very common at this time of the year and often very approachable as they bask in the spring sun

 

 

 

Peacock underwing

Wherever there was a patch of bare soil there were several Bee-flies

 

 

The one above is the Dark-edged Bee-fly

 

The mild warm weather today meant there were quite a few hoverflies to be seen but all of the ones I managed to photograph today were of the Syrphus species and they were all male (the males eyes meet in the middle - females have a gap between their eyes)

 

syrphus sp male

syrphus sp male

syrphus sp male

The second reason I was at the park was because one of the regular dog walkers had reported a 'wasps nest' on one of the sign posts by the childrens playground - I was suspicious that it was actually a honeybee swarm and was glad to see I was right

 

I straight away phoned Alan and Betty (the local bee keepers) and within a few hours they had arrived at the park

 

 

At the same time as they arrived the swarm took off but I managed to follow it as it settled into a nearby shrub by the ha ha wall

 

 

It didn't take Alan long to knock the swam containing the Queen in to one of his boxes that was already laced with food

 

Any remaining 'scouts' soon followed the scent of the Queen and made their way in to the box

 

And I got a nice jar of honey for my trouble :)