karen's country calendar

  A walk today round the back of Hilton Green past the meadow provided a wealth of wildflowers and in the fields,wheat could be seen coming into ear.     Clover, buttercups and cow parsley   Wheat in ear

Even a week brings changes this time of year, all the trees are in full blossom,  a time when the Drift is at its prettiest with many pinks and whites alternating down the sides of the track. The wheat is almost full height and will soon be in ear. Trees in full blossom down the Drift    Wheat growing taller...    Crab apple blossom   Horse chestnut candles full out 

No typing, no babysitting and a beautiful warm May morning presented an ideal opportunity to pop across to Fen Drayton Lakes after work this morning,    Before I even reached the carpark I came across three families of greylag geese grazing by the waters edge.  Plenty of warbling and birdsong to hear including cuckoo and sedge/reed warblers but ones I actually saw were chiffchaff, whitethroat, blackcap, garden warbler together with some of the common garden birds.  Common terns swooped over the lakes and blackheaded gulls were seen nesting on the  floating raft. A number of butterflies seen, mainly whites and orange tip.   Greylag familes   Greylag goose and goslings    Chiffchaff   Chiffchaff   Nesting blackheaded gulls   Green veined white butterfly     

E very lunchtime Murphy and I go for a walk down Hilton Drift and I cant help but notice the changes in the seasons as we pass the same trees and hedges each day.  Its early May and  the weather has started to warm up so I thought that I would record my observations of nature changing through the year. The wheat fields are now a lush green and growing taller each day, the rape is in full flower,  and the trees alongside the track are now breaking into leaf and blossom. Swallows seen swooping over the fields and a buzzard circling overhead. Wildflowers are starting to bloom and a few butterflies, brimstone, orange tip, small tortoiseshell and peacock flutter along the hedgerows though barely settle. The Drift  Blossom at the edge of the wheat crop. Bluebells Horse Chestnut candles just starting to open Swallow preening Field Beans in flower Oil seed rape in full flower  Orange tip butterfly Pink Campion