What a great weekend. Sunny all weekend and daytime temperatures nearing 15 degrees centigrade – that’s nearly 60 F. It was impossible to stay in and both days I went into the local woods.
Sunday provided a little more to talk about as I did my bit for the local conservation group. I like to keep “in” with them as it gives me authority to snoop around the fields and woods in the local area. This morning we cleared out an old oil separator tank which runs off the fields. There used to be an old USAF airbase in the area and these were used in case of a oil spillages. 30 years on and they’re still here and a great home for newts and other amphibians.

We stripped away the angry blackthorn and brambles and cleared the sorrounding area and then cleared the duckweed off the top of the water. Even being as gentle as possible with this we couldn’t help pulling out a couple of newts. Looking closer we noticed that one of them was a protected Great crested newt distiguishable with its orange belly. You should actually have a license to handle them.
 They normal hide up on land during the day being normally nocturnal, but this one must have been just below the surface. They also normally hibernate until late February which tells a tale about the early spring we’re obviously having. Of course, it was returned and swam off happily into the depths of the tank.
After the work-party session, I retreated to the woods, only to be disturbed by some of the group wandering into the wood (the cheek of it!) I ended up showing them around (two managed to lose themselves) and pointing out some of the tracks and signs which they seemed to enjoy.

Most of the conversation centred around the weather and we spotted early signs of Arum lilly, primrose and Early purple orchid.
I made the most of the weather and seeing the sun come up in the woods, I watched it set while wittling away another spoon. I returned home tired but happy and relaxed.

Thanks for the visit

Pablo.