Anemone blanda – Bee in the Moment

nature

🎵It’s Beginning…

Posted on 24/02/202124/02/2021 by BITM

… to look a lot like springtime, everywhere you go. 🎶

There are lots of early flowering plants blooming at the moment; spring is definitely in the air.

Hellebores, *Crocus* *tommasinianus, Iris reticulata* and Winter aconites (*Eranthis hyemalis*)

Allotment, nature

As with the first of March, this week ended with sunshine; although there have been moments of heavy rain as well. Meteorological Spring has begun and things are certainly waking up in the gardens. My Scilla have started to bloom and the Anemone blanda are looking magestic too.

Wild flowers are starting to grow now as well; particularly Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) and Common chickweed (Stellaria media).

When the sun was out, I noticed bees foraging. I have seen an Early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) and a few Buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) visiting flowers. Early bumblebees are one of the smallest in the uk and emerge from hibernation in March, before many other species are seen.

A *Bombus terrestris* visiting a
Spring crocus (*Crocus vernus*)

I managed to spend Saturday at the allotment. It’s only the second week on a new plot. After an initial viewing the previous Saturday, my partner and I spent five productive hours this weekend; pruning the apple tree, removing grass from the weedsheet covered beds and sorting the compost bins. No Robins (Erithacus rubecula) visited as earth was disturbed but we did have some friendly Jackdaws (Corvus monedula).

I also treated myself, and pollinators, to a Fuji cherry (Prunus incisa) ‘Kojo-no-mai’. It is the only thing flowering on the allotment at the moment (until we start growing cut flowers, fruit, herbs and vegetables) so it looked wonderful blooming in the sun.

nature

Birdwatching and Blooming Flowers

Posted on 03/02/202003/02/2020 by BITM

The annual Big Garden Birdwatch returned last weekend. As usual I took part on a Sunday morning. As with the previous year, there were lots of birds to see in my little patch, namely;

– 2 Blackbirds (Turdus merula)
– 3 Magpies (Pica pica)
– 7 Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)
– 1 Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
– 1 Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
– 5 Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)
– 2 Great Tits (Parus major)
– 2 Wood Pigeons (Columba palumbus)
– 1 Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
– 1 Ring necked parakeet (Psittacula krameri) and
– 3 Common Gulls (Larus canus)

There were a few changes to my 2019 list, the Dunnock, Ring necked parakeet and Common gulls were not visible during surveys before. Although I have noticed these birds in the area many times.

I enjoy purposely sitting for an hour on a Sunday morning observing birds, especially at this time of year. It is a lovely reminder that if you atune yourself to nature you will notice it even in the depths of winter.

One bird I have been hoping to see all winter were Redwings (Turdus iliacus). In previous years there have always been a few visitors to the Rowan (Sorbus) tree. However the berries were quickly eaten this Winter, which may explain why I haven’t seen any. Although perhaps they arrived when I wasn’t around to see them.

It was fantastic to witness more flowers popping up last week too, they were;

– Crocus vernus