Lunar Eclipse

Tonight's lunar eclipse coincided with a supermoon when the Moon is at its nearest to the Earth. The sky was cloud free so there was a fantastic view of the red moon.
It was well worth missing some sleep for as the next time this will happen is 2033.

Crane Reintroduction

 I know we have featured this several times before but congratulations to WWT , RSPB and others involved in their Crane Reintroduction Project.
On a visit to Slimbridge today we saw 13 Cranes including a family group of two adults and one fledged juvenile which we were thrilled to see fly off over the reserve.
How marvellous to see this amazing birds reintroduced and breeding in the wild.

Spindle Tree

It is the Autumnal Equinox so nights will now be longer than the days. The leaves of deciduous trees are changing colour before they fall and the Euonymus europaeus commonly known as the Spindle tree is one of the early ones to change.
This small tree has a hard dense wood and straight stems once used to make spindles skewers and clothes pegs.

Autumn Crocus

Autumn Crocus or Meadow Saffron is in flower now until October. Unlike the more familiar crocus we see in the spring only the flowers are present now as the leaves came earlier in the year. It is actually a lily and poisonous but has been used as a cure for gout.

Swallows

When we were wandering around Westonbirt Arboretum recently we spotted some Swallows flying around an Oak tree. On further inspection we realised that they were adult Swallows feeding some young that were sat in the top of the tree. We had never seen this happen before and thought you might be interested. If you look carefully you can see three youngsters.

Thistledown

Autumn is with us and thistles are spreading their seed in  the breeze. This patch has a spectacular amount waiting for the wind to distribute over the surrounding fields,