Common Crane Chicks

 After an absence of 400 years Cranes have hatched young in the wild in Gloucestershire thanks to WWT's Crane Reintroduction Programme which released cranes in Somerset.

Wood Garlic

Ramsons or Wood Garlic covers the woodland floor with a carpet of white at the moment,taking over from the bluebells. A smell of garlic permeates the wood.
The leaves and flowers are edible and useful in salads and pesto.

Maize plants emerge

The maize seeds are shooting and visible as they emerge from the soil and show in the early morning sunshine. At present we can still see all the birds as they look for worms and the lines of mole hills. We haven't had such a close view of maize growing before, it is interesting and we understand from the farmer that he will be growing maize in this field for this year and the next one.

Oak out before Ash

It's the time of year that we remember the old adage
If the Oak is out before the Ash we shall have a splash.If the Ash is out before the Oak we shall have a soak.
Looking at these trees near Tetbury it looks as if the Oaks win this year so we should be due some dryer weather.

Large White Butterfly

The Large White is one of our common butterflies, this one is the female as it has two more prominent spots on each forewing than the male.

Large White butterflies enjoy a fairly wide variety of habitats, open areas as well as gardens. 

Apparently Large Whites like foods with mustard oil glucosides. This could be the reason for us thinking that they only fed on cabbage in the garden when we were young, as in those days they were known as Cabbage White Butterflies.

Horse Chestnut

On a trip to Bath, southern end of the Cotswold Way, we enjoyed the Horse Chestnut trees which were in full blossom.

Blackbirds fledging

This reminded me of Spring Watch last year. On dusk yesterday I noticed this young Blackbird just outside the utility room window sat on the grass. I thought it was a leaf at first but as I moved closer it opened it's mouth to be fed! I noticed the colour of it's feathers well matured, only the yellow gape reminiscent of a youngster.  Retreating inside again we spotted the mother bird busy in and out of the bush nearby, apparently feeding others. Hopefully this little bird found somewhere safe to spend the night, no sign of it this morning.