Early snow drops and winter aconites the first spring flowers on the woodland floorIts nearly here! just as you get up in the morning the first glimmerings of spring, the days are lengthening and its light as I drive to work. The first snowdrops have actually been out for a few weeks on the sheltered side of the park wall and the winter aconites are carpeting the old farm house gardens nearby. The first signs of spring even though I had to scrape the ice off the car again this week.
It’s a couple of weeks since the storm cock started singing and now quite a few more birds have joined him, the song thrush and the robins are in full song and the blackbird too added his morning song.
It’s a couple of weeks since the storm cock started singing and now quite a few more birds have joined him, the song thrush and the robins are in full song and the blackbird too added his morning song.
There are several things I really like about this time of the year firstly, of course it is the longer days, it gives me more time to get out and about, it allows me to get down the allotment as well and start growing a few things but it is the expectancy that lies ahead that makes me most excited.
Rise early or stay out late and these might be your rewardsAs the days lengthen, winter can still quickly return this week Scotland and the north of the County have been plunged back under heavy snowfall. But that’s what is good about this time of the year, the changeability; those early snowdrops poking through snow always make an evocative image as spring and the march of the seasons start to leave winter behind.
This time of the year also reveals some of the best views in wildlife watching, clear skies and rising temperatures allows some spectacular sun rises and sunsets to occur. When this happens it really pays to be out as anything you do see has that added glow to it.
Take a trip to Solway Firth or similar such as Druridge Bay and there is nothing more spectacular than watching skeins of geese through an orange sunset. As spring advances there are more skeins to see as they start to head north to their winter breeding grounds in the Arctic Circle, line after line of them stretching right across the sky. Truly spectacular sights at the best of times but catch it in the evening glory, a sight never to be forgotten.
Geese in a solway sunsetI have one vision that can beat it though, but one rarely encountered. A few years back I was asked to do a live radio 4 broadcast, the reporter wanted to see otters, I said I’d show him one, he didn’t believe me. I showed him four! Not being too flippant it did actually far out weigh my own expectations even though I was well versed with the habits of those particular otter at the time, nature will always throw you a wrong’un.
At minus 2 outside a thin skin of ice filtered the margins. As the sun rose, a huge tangerine ball, the scene became an unbelievable backdrop to the events that were just about to unfold, everything was enshrined in an orange glow. The commentator enthused about the breaking dawn as I scanned and waited for my otter to appear, appear he did not making think I was about to eat my words. Then just as the sun broke free from the horizon a noise hardly discernable by the human ear made me twitch and freeze.
So still was the dawn that that sound of breaking ice and an exhaled breath made me draw the attention of the reporter to what was approaching. To say there was silence was an understatement a totally speechless reporter stared at not one but four approaching otters glowing gold in the morning light. A mother and three cubs, the cubs still so young they were struggling to break through the ice to keep up with their mother, who constantly called in high pitched whistles to encourage them on. There calls were mutual as they retorted, ‘well slow down’, ‘we can’t keep up’.
As they drew level with us, no more than 10 feet away, the bitch got wind of us and rising out of the water she peered forward with beady eyes as to who or what the silent watchers were. The cubs were happy as it gave them time to catch up but she coughed her warning but the cubs however were being cubs they kept on exploring their watery realm until she had enough and ushered them along. A full 10 minutes of the most breathtaking wildlife encounter I have ever had let alone the speechless reporter. So much for a live report we had to dub it later.
At minus 2 outside a thin skin of ice filtered the margins. As the sun rose, a huge tangerine ball, the scene became an unbelievable backdrop to the events that were just about to unfold, everything was enshrined in an orange glow. The commentator enthused about the breaking dawn as I scanned and waited for my otter to appear, appear he did not making think I was about to eat my words. Then just as the sun broke free from the horizon a noise hardly discernable by the human ear made me twitch and freeze.
So still was the dawn that that sound of breaking ice and an exhaled breath made me draw the attention of the reporter to what was approaching. To say there was silence was an understatement a totally speechless reporter stared at not one but four approaching otters glowing gold in the morning light. A mother and three cubs, the cubs still so young they were struggling to break through the ice to keep up with their mother, who constantly called in high pitched whistles to encourage them on. There calls were mutual as they retorted, ‘well slow down’, ‘we can’t keep up’.
As they drew level with us, no more than 10 feet away, the bitch got wind of us and rising out of the water she peered forward with beady eyes as to who or what the silent watchers were. The cubs were happy as it gave them time to catch up but she coughed her warning but the cubs however were being cubs they kept on exploring their watery realm until she had enough and ushered them along. A full 10 minutes of the most breathtaking wildlife encounter I have ever had let alone the speechless reporter. So much for a live report we had to dub it later.
A secret otter encounter at dusk
An encounter never to be forgotten and made all the more special by the light and the early start.
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