This morning a strong south-westerly wind blows through the park, cooling the temperature and reminding us we’re still in March, despite last week’s sunny streak.
However, the springtime bird song remains undeterred as they each woo their partners, and defend their territories for the nesting season. Tuneful chirps from Robin seem to be heard in every direction, Great Tit repetitions of ‘teacher-teacher’, and the Wrens usual sequence of high-tempo song which rings out loudly through the trees.
Ground flora awakens where the sunshine beams down through the leafless deciduous canopy. Blooms of Primrose and the sunny Dandelions provide a cheery splash of yellow, with the purple Dog-Violet and dainty blue Green Alkanet flowers standing out too. Wood Dock, Wild Arum, Garlic Mustard, and Stinging Nettle forming the backdrop carpet of green.
Many of our larger butterfly species will time their breeding with the emergence of the Nettles, as it is the foodplant for caterpillars of Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, and Comma butterflies. The birds will then time their chicks hatching with emergence of these caterpillars, as each chick of even just a small Blue Tit requires about 100 caterpillars per day.
Throughout the woodland fresh lime-green leaves have started to appear, contrasting the browned Holm Oak. Fresh waxy leaves upon the Euonymous, long drooping fingers of the compound Horse Chestnut, and fluffy tips atop the Austrian Pine.
Bumblebees hum around the trees in flower; Willow, Blackthorn, Cherry, and Plum. Look closely to appreciate the orange pollen-tipped stamens sticking out like little antennae form the centre of each flower.