Spring flowers

Thursday sunset

to view a gallery  with more photos, click here

With the recent good weather I've been walking in local woods and parks this week. Still no sign of a brimstone yet, but that will come.

River Arun

Gorse, Ulex europaeus

Primrose, Primula vulgaris

Snowdrops, Galanthus species

Snowdrops, Galanthus species

Kingfisher in our local park

Kingfisher female, Alcedo atthis

to view a gallery with more photos, click here

Yesterday I saw the female kingfisher in our local park for the second time this week. Following a tip-off, on Monday I spotted it land on the grassy bank of the stream, then it flew off into the thick of the brambles over the ditch and dived for sticklebacks a couple of times, but I couldn't see if it had caught anything. It then flew towards me and banked around to give me a great sight of its blue and orange feathers. I have one photo which suggests it's a male (lower beak black).

The next two days were wet and dull but yesterday the sun came out after lunch so I headed to the park again and was quickly rewarded with the kingfisher landing on the grassy bank. It didn’t spot any sticklebacks so it flew to the bramble thicket and perched for many minutes in open view. It repeated this again after an hour, by which time I had been joined by two other birders. A couple of Long-tailed Tits appeared during this time.

Monday's kingfisher

on the grassy bank

checking out another part of the water

orange lower beak indicates a female

this shot and the next shows neck bobbing to change her view of the water

time to check out another part of the stream

Long-tailed Tit, Aegithalos caudatus 

with lichen in beak - nest building?

House Sparrow, Passer domesticus from Monday

Angmering woods and a Spring Usher

Hazel catkins, Corylus avellana

to view a gallery  with more photos, click here

On Monday I wandered round local woods at Angmering Estate and found some fungi plus the first moth I have seen this year, a Spring Usher which is supposed to herald the arrival of the next season. It was dead and floating in a ditch. The previous day we had a short walk past Lobb's Wood and the memorial.

Butcher's-Broom, Ruscus aculeatus

Cartilage Lichen, Ramalina farinacea and Common Orange Lichen, Xanthoria parietina

Common Orange Lichen, Xanthoria parietina

Hairy Curtain Crust, Stereum hirsutum

Hairy Curtain Crust underside

Jelly Ear Fungus, Auricularia auricula-judae

Jelly Ear Fungus

Littlehampton memorial

Lobb's Wood

possible remains of Hair Ice

possible remains of Hair Ice

rainbow painted bark

rainbow painted stone

Rosy Crust, Peniophora incarnata  on White Poplar, Populus alba

Rosy Crust on White Poplar

Spring Usher, Agriopis leucophaearia

possibly White Brain, Exidia thuretiana