April 2024: Quick Roundup

An unseasonable month, with more joys found in the garden than out in the field.

My birthday had the worst weather for ever in my memory, but it didn't restrain me from the outdoors.

 Warblers, butterflies, hoverflies and bees were welcomed, yet soon missed by mid-month onward due to the wet, windy, grey weather.

Gardening and cultivation continued, though all but for the fresh new green leaves (and cress!) seemed slow to grow. Oaks unfurled their leaves gradually, whilst beeches' buds remained closed.

 

New spring leaves, garden

 

Many things caught the observant-eye in the garden. 

Lily of the valley shoots, curled, a delicate green, wholly-inedible tuile. I watched for the flowers.

 Blue tits peeped into nest boxes.  I wondered, will they bring material?

Blackbirds gathered food for nestlings, two females regular visitors to the garden.

 

 

Blackbird, garden

 

 

I potted-up this year's seedlings and established a new hedge: prickly native roses and trees.

 

A peek inside: Apricot seeding

 

 

Raindrops and new leaves, garden

 

 

A Chiffchaff passed through the garden. The first of the spring warblers.

 

 

Chiffchaff, garden

 

 

 

 

 

RAF A400: A particularly large bird over the garden.

 

 

 

Dandelions

 

 

Breezy by the cherry tree

 

 

 

Bluebell coming in to flower.

Ladybird on Forget-me-not, garden

Female Hairy-footed Flower Bee on Primrose

By the 9th, weather turned to being not-at-all spring-like. A succession of low fronts passed through. 

A Blackcap heard and then seen in the garden was most welcome, the second of a succession of warblers to come...I awaited the call of my first Willow Warbler.

 

Blackcap in the birch, garden

Common Carder Bee on Wild Garlic

Female Orange-tip Butterfly on Alexanders

Holly Blue on Ivy

Crabapple Blossom

The pump house

Upon the path

Bluebells

My first Willow Warbler was heard in tandem with the first Sedge Warblers, returned from Africa.

A mid-month day of sunshine and above-average temperatures was followed by unseasonable coldness for the rest of the month. I finished planting my hedge with thick rain, mizzle and 40mph+ gusts at my back, front, sides..!

 

A fierce north wind greeted me at the coast with charming regularity.

Blowing sand

Into the north wind...

Hair styled courtesy of the wind...

...and with the north wind behind me

An upward glance at Blickling rewarded me with my first swallows of this year.

My first House Martins were seen at Holkham.

Swallow

Bullock, watcher upon the hill

A trot round the old Iceni fort

Egyptian Goose, Greylag Geese, Cattle Egrets

Chiffchaff

Small White butterfly

Above the birch

Lily of the Valley, garden

Bad hair day for a Little Egret

Little Grebe with prey

Avocet

Juvenile Woodpigeon

The first fledgling to visit the garden was a Woodpigeon.

 All month, Blackbirds and Starlings gathered food for nestlings. Blue Tits became less visible at the end of the month, presumed nesting.

Grey skies, Wisteria flower buds

At the end of the month, spring seemed in stasis. No butterflies, hoverflies, bees, warblers...

The Wisteria flower buds seemed halted in their growth, the budding roses on the cusp of opening. Only the grass seemed to flourish.

 

 From the front window, I observed a Linnet juvenile being fed. These charming birds twittered and sang close by the windows all month.

 

The 29th, the sun promised warmth; the south wind stole it away. A bright day, nevertheless, which focused my senses forward to May and summer beyond. An Orange-tip butterfly visited the garden, welcomed back after all of the rain.

Silk satin skirts: Dusky Cranesbill flowerbuds

Green growth, blue skies

Mites attacked my two Wisteria seedlings, felling one and damaging the other. The surviving seedling was transported to a warm windowsill: sickbay. After a week or so, its leaves unfurled but its stalk remained perilously-thin. The seedling will be nurtured, but if it does not survive, I will attempt to grow more later this year.

Green hands to the sun: Wisteria seedling

The last day of the month brought bright skies, even if they clouded over, and many people enjoying the coast in one way or another. More evident than ever, birds busied themselves with the pressing need for reproduction, and survival. Fragrant Alexanders were joined by Cow Parsley; burgeoning mayflower supplemented by the first pristine elderflower sprays.

Cley beach

Cley East Bank

Sedge Warbler

Reed Bunting, Alexanders

Ascending the shingle away from the sea

April 2023: Quick roundup

 Spring continuing wet and with below-average temperatures as has been the case for last few years.

Cool, damp and windy for the most part: light frosts, pale breath and arctic air makes one long for heat of the unseasonable February earlier this year.

Leaves unfurling and expanding, with a general aspect of greens and yellows.

Summer migrant birds arriving and settling in.

 

 

Wood Pigeon pair.

 

"Temperatures disappointing for the time of year," confirms the weather forecast.

 

Redpoll feeding in silver birch.

 A Lesser Redpoll feeding in the garden; it feels more winter than spring.

 

 

Cool breezes off the river Yare, arctic winds and chills from the North sea, but a soft green haze of foliage. Oaks and Beeches at last unfurl leaves. Leaf cases cascade at the start of the month, catkins by its end.

Apple seedlings potted up, vigorous cherry seedlings next.

The longer lighter days since the spring equinox spur on new growth, grass growing thickly.

Lawn mowers, hedgecutters and trimmers heard often.

 

 Writing notes following a picnic under a cherry tree.

 

 

Finger sandwiches: egg mayo; tuna and cucumber. Strawberry tarts for a sweet, all eaten beneath a blossoming cherry tree. My picnic season opens on a chilly, dull day.

Herring Gull pair at Blakeney.

 

Winter flocks now dispersed; many birds now observed in pairs.

A Mistle Thrush is heard once, a call back to January. Song Thrushes a delight, but heard rarely.

Cattle graze in pastures, some with tiny calves. Held up in traffic on the Cromer road, blue lights flashing: an accident? From behind a building on the edge of a field, a bullock trots onto the road, followed by another: drooling, sweaty, exhausted. Remain still. They are not volatile spooked horses. The bullocks continue onward to Norwich; to the left, three trot heavily down a pasture furrow. Cars move on, a farmer and his trailer pass with a police car behind, following the bullocks.

Wisteria flower-buds.

 Copper-cased buds opening on the Wisteria, flowers forming. A bumper spread ahead: a pleasant surprise, after the previous dry summer. Ladybirds active and numerous after seeming scarce last year. Buds on the roses and pollen in the air. Sneezes, ice cream van and light aircraft heard.

 

A solitary Swallow over Blickling lake is part of a small flock by the 24th. Swallows are about, but not numerous (yet?).

Bright skies, bright water as the sun glances.

 

 

A Goldfinch pair regularly feeds on dandelions, whilst a busy Blackbird enjoys an offering of apples.
 

 

Breezy, breezy on the beach.

 

 

House Martin.

 

The House Martins have returned to Holkham, swallows too, reuniting with their nests or scouting out for a new one. All Wigeon have gone from the marshes. Barnacle Geese squabble at the lake as pairs and territory are defined; two Greenfinches fly up from a hedge, fighting.

 

A purr-fect poser.

 

 

 Hawthorn blossom noticed 17th April, and much of the Blackthorn blossom is now waning, earlier than the year previous.

Diffuse skies for an evening walk. Delighted hearing the Common Terns cawing at Blickling lake; returned from travels far afar, first observed 21st April but possibly back sooner than that.

 

Comma butterfly.

 

Cinnabar moth.

Butterflies seen in variety if not quantity. Peacock most commonly seen. Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Brimstone, Comma. Nettles thick and fragrant, but not as heavily-scented as the laurel now flowering. Delighted to see a Cinnabar moth, having seen only their larvae last year.

 

 

Cuckoo flower spotted 24th April: how soon to hear a cuckoo?

Reports of cuckoos returning since mid-April, but not heard one yet.

 

 

Sheep return to pastures with lambs.

Most horses in paddocks still rugged; a few graze with the sun on their backs. Heavy hail shower on the 25th.

 

Beautiful Bluebells, and not yet in full bloom. Wood Anemone faces the sun.

 

Blackbirds sing regularly throughout the day. Busy birds feeding nestlings, a few males with tatty feathers. Fledgling heard begging but not seen; seen only a dead fledgling on the patio.

 

Starling squadrons in the garden, busy busy, probing and hunting, speeding off to feed youngsters.

One day, a maestro mimics multiple birds: Blackbird, Woodpecker, Tawny Owl, Magpie, Long-tailed Tit, and more.

 

 Warblers, delicate skies and foliage, on the broads.

 

 

 

Willow Warbler.

 

Cuckoo heard 29th April.

Willow Warbler singing whilst a Cuckoo calls from a distance, the latter for short bursts; but, will anticipate soon, "In May I sing all night and day".

Boats returning to the quiet broads and dykes.

A Great Crested Grebe rides the swell on the river Yare whilst busy pairs nest on a broad

 

Sampling the goods as the very local vineyard Winbirri reopens their garden for the season.

A respite from clouds and chills at the middle and the end of the month with bright sunshine, hot for driving.

 

Mute Swans nesting. New green shoots a base to last-years dead reeds.

Alexanders fragrant on road verges, with escaped oilseed rape and cow parsley blooming at intervals.

 

 

Busy Black-tailed Godwits, feeding and squabbling on pools. Rusty breeding plumage evident.

Cley Long-billed Dowitcher remaining, now first summer.

 

 Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff prolific, but other warblers only heard infrequently: teases of a Blackcap's song.

Just about mild enough to sit outside listening to the Blackbirds singing at dusk 21:00.

Summer evenings outdoors not so far away.

My sounds of April

Chiffchaff

Blackbird

Sedge warbler