Two Yellow Flowers

After an extended and unseasonable cold March spring seems very slow to start. Here in Endon we had about a week of dry weather at the start of the month, but we have also had fifteen days that started below freezing, about 16 days with snow fall or snow lying on the ground. The warmest day so far has been 13th March at 13 degrees C.

However, they might have been buried under the recent snow drifts, but two species of wild flower are starting to make an appearance. Today, at Cecilly brook and Hales Hale Nature reserves in Cheadle I saw Lesser Celandine and Coltsfoot just beginning to open. 

Coltsfoot flower.





Cecilly Brook Nature Reserve, Cheadle.

And, amazingly really, considering the unseasonable weather, we saw a butterfly (probably a Small Tortoiseshell or Peacock) fly across a road and go behind a dry-stone wall along Stoney Dale, Oakamoor. I suspect that it had been hibernating, on a house or sheltered position on a tree, that had warmed up in the sun to a sufficient temperature to allow it to fly. Its future does not look good as, even in spite of the Coltsfoot and Lesser Celandines, there are very few sources of nectar on which it may feed - even garden plants are suffering in the cold and snowy conditions.

 

 

Started the British Trust for Ornithology Breeding Bird Survey today. Surveyed vegetation of SK0444. Here is a photo I took while doing the survey. It show a view of Moneystone Quarry in the distance and Hawksmoor Nature Reserve (on the left).