Susie

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Susie,

A nice start to your season, all the best with the rest of your challenge.

Neil F.

[Susie]

Thanks Neil. Have a great season too

[Susie]

The weather may be grim again with snow forecast in the next few days but there are loads of frogs in my pond and two clumps of frog spawn, one is very fresh and the other a bit older. I last checked the pond on wednesday so it cant be that old.

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Susie,

Glad to hear you have some frogspawn. Mine appeared yesterday, exactly a year to the day in 2012 (how they worked that I'll never know). Sleeping with the back window open, I can hear them calling during the late evening and early morning.

Another sign that spring is almost officially here

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[Susie]

Hi Mark, good to hear from you. How interesting that your frog spawn turned up at approximately the same time as mine. Makes me think that there must be some signal they are aware of that 'now is the time!'.

[Wurzel]

Alright Susie? The timing of frog spawning might have something to do with daylength if I can remember correctly back from all those years ago at Uni (although they were pretty hazy memories even at the time (there were 53 pubs in Aberystwyth! )). There is definitely something rattling around in my brain about Red and Far Red Light affecting seasonal rhythms- although that could be to do with plants, I'd prefer to think that they've all consulted their diaries and gone "yep tonight's the night!"

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Susie]

Just checked back in my diary and last year the frogspawn arrived here on 4 March, and that was a week later than the year before. Even though the frogspawn was late this year it is still under a layer of ice and an inch and a half of snow today. I have no worries for the spawn but I hope the froggies are okay.

[Susie]

The sun is shining, the daffodils are continuing to bloom, the birds are singing their hearts out but it's still bitterly cold. It feels like a typical day for mid February!

In the garden the frogspawn still hasnt hatched and the cuckoo flower, which is my indicator of when I am likely to see orange tips, hasnt grown very much at all. There are a few flower stalks appearing which are an inch or two high with tight little buds. They are weeks off flowering it seems. But then nature is a wonderful thing and just a few days of warm weather and everything will switch into overdrive to try to make up for lost time.

If we do get some decent warm weather it will be a sensational spring with everything happening at once

[Wurzel]

Here's hoping that spring does actually come - at the moment it just feels like there is no end in sight. I suppose when we want the high pressure in the summer we'll get the lows meaning wet and windy Still you never no!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Susie]

Yesterday my copy of the Sussex BC report arrived. It's a really excellent read with some smashing articles written by members of this forum. I'd highly recommend it. I wrote lots of field trips on my calendar and am looking forward to the season ahead.

This afternoon as the sun shone and temperatures rose it began to feel like spring at last. I didnt see any butterflies unfortunately but I did see a queen bee and my first hairy footed flower bee of the year; a male. HFF bees are a personal favourite of mine and have such character.

The frogspawn has hardly developed at all in the pond and the cuckoo flower is still in tight bud on short stalks. I don't think i'll be seeing any orange tips for a good couple of weeks yet.

[Wurzel]

Good news about the bees I use them as "indicators" for butterflies as once it's warm enough for bees butterflies shouldn't be far behind. Hopefully spring will go off for a rocket so you better keep a close eye on the cuckoo flower or blink and you could miss it!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Susie]

Thanks Wurzel.

I tend to keep a close eye on the flowers to give me an idea of what to look for.

Have a good day tmrw.

[Mark Tutton]

Can highly recommend the Sussex bc report - have bought the last three and I am awaiting delivery of the latest
The Hants BC one is also very comprehensive and a thoroughly good read with a significant moth section which is always very interesting - being a member I receive this automatically - however I cant recall if it's available for purchase?

[NickMorgan]

It sounds as though you are still a couple of weeks ahead of us. The frogs only returned yesterday after their brief appearance the first week in March. The cuckoo flowers are just a few small leaves. I planted them too late last year for them to come to anything. I hope that they grow a little larger this year as they wouldn't support an orange tip caterpillar for long as they are!

[Susie]

Hi Nick, I imagine that if your cuckoo flower is happy it will grow very quickly with the right weather. I know mind did and now it self seeds around the garden.

Hi Tuts, I imaginee Pete or Gruditch could let us know if the Hants report is for sale to non members

[Susie]

We saw two swallows today over Southwater country park.

[Susie]

Three brimstones in and around Petworth this morning

[Susie]

I took the kids to Mill Hill yesterday in the hope of seeing grizzled skippers (or anything!). We didn't see any skippers but we did see a peacock and two small tortoiseshells. Then we went to Five Oaks and saw three brimstones on the way there and a small white just before we arrived at our destination. Once there we saw a couple of male orange tips, a comma and several more brimstones. It was a good day.

Butterfly challenge so far:

1. Red Admiral
2. Brimstone
3. Peacock
4. Small Tortoiseshell
5. Small White
6. Orange Tip
7. Comma

[Susie]

On Tuesday morning I had a spare hour so I went back to Five Oaks but despite it being a warm sunny day it wasn't late enough in the day for me to see Orange Tips. I did however see a peacock, a couple of commas and a brimstone before I had to leave. The birds were singing their hearts out, the blackthorn scented the lane and a pair of buzzards circled over head. One came down quite low.

On Thursday there was a partial lunar eclipse. It was a bit disappointing to be honest but you can just see that the top left hand corner (if you can have a corner on a circle) is missing

Today I went to the Sussex BC spring event with my eldest daughter. It was held at the Knepp Castle Estate and it was an excellent event. Charlie Burrell gave a talk on the rewilding project they are working on at Knepp before taking us all on a tractor ride and tour of part of the estate. They are doing fantastic things here which can be read about on the Knepp Castle Estate website. Exmoor ponies, pigs, highland cattle and deer roam wild but don't seem at all bother by people being around. Insect and birdlife is flocking back to the area.

With fishy stories from Neil, a marvellous cake from Dr Dan and Michael Blencowe to bring the event to a close it was a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a few hours and look forward to the year's butterfly recording ahead. I've made a note to be a bit more organised this year and make a record of the butterflies I see for the atlas.

Charlie Burrell telling the people in the tractor about the rewilding project.

[Padfield]

I didn't notice there was an eclipse on Thursday, Susie. We had lovely weather here that day and I would have tried for a photo too, if I'd known.

For me, a lot of things in the sky are exciting through the imagination, not through what you actually see. Even if the eclipse barely singes the moon, as in your photo, you can imagine the shadow of the earth reaching through space and you get a sense of perspective on your life.

Guy