Rushford Mill – Cranbrook Castle – Fingle Bridge
The insects were out enjoying the sunshine. I spent ages waiting for an Orange Tip to land and then, when it did, I missed it! The brimstone and the Holly Blue were much more cooperative. Assorted flies, a nuthatch, dung beetle, unfurling ferns and new leaves. Ants on the bilberry flowers were very purposeful and it was obviously a shieldbug convention on the dock leaf. The birds were up in the canopy out of reach but a grey wagtail was unusually relaxed – they usually fly off at the slightest suggestion of a camera being levelled at them. The first photo is a sprouting willow stake – we drove lots into the river bank in an attempt to slow erosion and they are all (more-or-less) sprouting – which is good (if you like willow).
