Monday, February 24, 2014
Hanging out washing on this brilliant morning I heard a soft call from above and saw this bullfinch sitting high in the copper beech. I went inside and got the camera, but as I clicked away he tilted his head and checked me out; next moment he was off.
There was a queen bumblebee and a smaller worker in the heather, and I thought there were two honey bees as well. But a closer look revealed that these were drone flies - honey bee mimics.
Greger was insistent I go out and enjoy the good weather, and then he decided to come with me. In Egypt Woods he pointed out the ants' nest, where the occupants had come to life rather early. I generally see them first from mid to late March.
This is just one of several trees that had come down in the latest winds, because they weren't down last time I walked through. As we detoured round a larger one, we met a cheerful chap (without a dog - hooray!) who was the only other walker we saw in the woods.
Greger had hoped to see his first lesser spotted woodpecker, and in Dorney Wood he detected distant drumming that I'd failed to hear. However, having listened carefully we agreed that it was resonant and fairly short, and tailed away at the end; making it a great-spot.
In the Dimsdale Drive area of Burnham Beeches, where old wooden gateposts hint at lost grandeur, a single brambling was seen high in a beech tree with chaffinches. Through the trees, we could see white chickens scratching about, belonging to a house that you would hardly know is there and which in fact we couldn't see. But no luck with lesser-spot.
// posted by Christine @ 9:01 AM 
