The more you look the more you See!



Flowers of the Hazel Tree ( male left, female right ) 

As I write (21^st Feb), there is still plenty of snow on Snowdon and a sharp easterly wind is blowing. However, the unmistakable signs of spring are everywhere to be seen and heard. Daffodils are blooming along the roadsides in local villages well ahead of Saint David’s Day (1st March).Less obvious are the flowers of the Hazel tree shown in the picture. The catkins are the male flowers and produce pollen. The diminutive female flower occurs lower down the twig, it’s beautiful crimson stigmas catch the wind -dispersed pollen on their sticky surface…..the more you look the more you see! More easily seen are the shining yellow petals of Lesser Celandine spotted on the 14^th February on a sunny wayside bank. The 14^th of February was a relatively warm day (11 C) and the frogs were out in force splashing, croaking and mating in our ponds. We first spotted frog spawn on the 6th of February, a week earlier than last year. I’m sure this year’s spawn was deposited a few days before we noticed it as it showed evidence of frost damage. Have the Coventry frogs spawned yet? It would be interesting to know what date it appeared.

There is now much more bird song in the mornings and evenings; prominent vocalists are the Mistle Thrushes with their loud ringing song calling from the tallest trees. Supporting singers include Robins.Chaffinches, Wrens, Nuthatches, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Great Tits and Blue Tits.The latter species is already investigating our bird boxes all of which were given a good spring clean back in January. Soon I will need to temporarily stop up the entrance hole of a few boxes; this will make sure  there are boxes available for the migrant Pied Flycatchers arriving in April.

The River Glaslyn marshes hold plenty of interest at this time of year with large numbers of wintering wildfowl including Widgeon and Teal. Further inland flocks of Canada Geese, Mute Swans and Whooper Swans were feeding on the flood plain pasture. Near to where the River Glaslyn enters Porthmadog harbour, I watched with amusement a Little Egret paddling in the shallow water. Its vivid black legs and yellow podgy feet seem to accentuate its ponderous high stepping progress   giving a very good impression of a John Cleese ‘funny walk’!

Back in mid January, on a frosty moonlit night I listened to a Vixen barking from the hillside; her hoarse wailing bark was a wonderfully wild and eerie sound that made the hairs on the back of my head stand up!