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Spring Has Sprung on Penlan Farm
Posted: 21st March 2011
A walk around the farm yesterday proved to be as enjoyable as any mid-summer visit. The temperature had gone up by 5-6 degrees seemingly overnight and for most of the day there was barely a breeze. For the month of March there was ‘a little bit of spring in the air’.
There has been a tremendous show of snowdrops at Penlan this year and, as they come to the end of flowering, the woodland floor starts to show new faces. Bluebell leaves are thrown up in spiky rosettes ready to feed the flower formation. In the most shaded area, amongst the carpet of ivy, cushions of pale green wood-sorrel are emerging. Each one has a cluster of delicate white flowers with faint stripes through them. Shades of green against a brown leaf litter background, just right for the week around St. Patricks’ Day!!
It was a ‘red-letter’ day for me on the bird front. Rowan had told me that, earlier in the winter, a pair of Goshawks had blitzed the office gardens but yesterday was my first sighting of this big raptor up at the farm. Whilst walking and talking with farm manager Richard there was an explosion of alarm calls from all the local Crow crowd. Jackdaws and magpies were screeching and chattering and even the resident raven pair were stirred into defence. It’s not often that ravens are wound up and, sure enough, the source of all the fuss was seen as a Goshawk swept across the hill, almost playing with the ravens who gave a really good size comparison to the Goshawk. Seen in an open sky, away from the usual wooded area, a bird on its’ own is difficult to size but when there is interaction with another species the power of this beautiful hawk is breathtaking.
There is also something unusual happening on my own farm in Pembrokeshire and I'm fairly sure it will be occurring elsewhere too. A little bit of warm sunshine here with virtually no wind ... and there has been a hatch of what I call 'gossamer spiders'. These small insects move around by spinning their thread-gossamer whilst climbing to the top of a tree or bush. They then wait for a breeze to lift them into the air ... where they're at the mercy of the wind. The strange sight then follows - birds of all types chasing the gliding spiders around in the most strange way! Jackdaws to starlings, they randomly dart around and, after grabbing this tiny morsel, they 'parachute' for a second whilst swallowing!
This is also a good time to look out for Sand Martins or even very early swallows re-fuelling after their arrival from the Continent and beyond.
Roger
Burns Conservationist
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