ABERNYTE NATUREWATCH SPRING 2011

On looking back on last year’s spring 2010’s nature report, I discovered that I had waxed eloquent over the ferocity of the winter, the amount of snow and the proliferation of icicles. It pales into insignificance now, with this winter standing out as being even snowier and icier than the last.  Winter 2011 was memorable partly for the difficulty we had in getting out of Abernyte, and even more importantly, getting back again!  On one occasion we went out in the evening only to have to drive back from Dundee in a white-out, park the car at Baledgarno and trudge back up the hill in bright moonlight to arrive back home at 1 o’clock in the morning (and all that just to see an opera).  Woodcocks, bramblings, goldfinches and yellowhammers were all seen in the snow or at bird feeding stations during this snow-up.  

 

But when the snow had gone Spring records started with Stephen noticing that there were actually snowdrops in full flower on the bank of the Lochty burn on the 2nd February - somewhat later than last year!  It was also encouraging to hear of several sightings of a Barn Owl being in the area around the same time - during February and March.  We live in hope that the Barn Owls have survived the hard weather and have found somewhere to breed. 

   

At least the bumblebees made it through the winter. Gordon saw a couple of bees working on Viburnum bodnantense on 19th March (2nd April last year).  He speculates that they must have had centrally heated holes to hide in!  Since then there have been plenty of  bumblebees around.  My particular favourites are the ginger coloured Carder Bees, recognizable for the fact that they look like small teddy bears as they wizz around pollinating the geraniums, vetches and all sorts of other wild and cultivated flowers.  There have also been Bats out flying since March 23rd, when Barry saw his first bat of the year, identified as a Pipistrelle.  

 

Gordon declared the official start of Spring in Abernyte as the morning of 27th February when he heard a drumming woodpecker on Abernyte Hill and a pair of rather noisy oyster-catchers arriving to stake their claim on a patch of Abernyte.  

 

Some of the Spring bird migrants arrived earlier than last year, with April having very fine weather. Barry, (who has the hearing of a bat or a fox), heard the Chiff-Chaff in Kinnaird on 30th March and Willow Warbler in our garden on April 14th. Blackcap were also around not long afterwards.    

But we could not finally acknowledge that Spring had come until the first swallows arrived – John and Irene saw their first swallow, and also house martin, on Fri 22nd April, and the good weather was here with them for quite some time.  By 6th May the swallows were renovating an old nest in Gordon’s stable, so we can hold out some hope for “Abernyte SwallowCam” this year.  Swifts (always arriving later) were flying over the church and hill on Sunday 8th May, along with more house martins. Sand Martins, which are early birds, were swere seen flying over the hill on March 28th.   They nest in sandy river banks so they do not stay around Abernyte but you can often see them over the river at Coupar Angus Bridge.  

 

The old adage about the Oak before the Ash is right as usual, and the weather has restrained itself to a splash not a soak!  Oak trees were in leaf around 13th April while some of the Ash were only starting on 8th May.  It’s now 15th May and the Hawthorn is in full flower along with the Red Campion (which must have been out for 3 weeks or more).  Butterflies have appeared including the lovely Comma, Peacock, Small tortoiseshell and Orange tip and last week we saw our first Red Admiral Butterfly – a migrant from Southern Europe. All bodes well for an exciting summer - so get out there and put your nature sightings on

 

Abernyte Naturewatch

www.Abernyte.org

 

or send them to Barry and Cathy Caudwell in Abernyte.  

 

Cathy Caudwell