Still a bit Behind

 Common lizard

 Common toads

 Green hairstreak

 Sundews

I'm now seeing two or possibly three adult voles when I go down to watch, but I still feel they're about a month behind, breeding-wise. Meanwhile I've drawn a blank looking for snakes and slow worms. Lots of other wildlife about, though.

Mossfields Special

I took a professional ecologist to see the colony at Mossfields today, because the site's teeming with water voles and it's stuffed full of textbook field signs that he was keen to see to gain survey experience.

It is an amazing place.

All along the course of the L-shaped  ditch there are large water vole  feeding stations - literally too many to count - and water vole droppings and latrines. They are everywhere you look and impossible to miss. I've only included a selection of the dozens of photos I took, but they show without a shadow of a doubt that there's strong water vole activity on this site.

This is important because Shropshire Council are allowing a big building development to happen here, and obviously there are tight legal restrictions on how you treat land where water voles are present. So we're all keeping an eye on the progress and detail of the planning application, to ensure no laws are broken.

Assortment

Common shrew. The tail is half the length of the body.

Water shrew. Tiny eyes!

 Red-tailed bumblebee (I think)

 Cockchafer

 Water vole latrine

How Nature Helps when you're Feeling Down

 skylark

English bluebells

 pied wagtail

There's a lot to be said for sitting quietly in a green space, thinking (or not thinking).

For my Mum

I don't normally put personal things on this blog, but this post is a special one for my wonderful mum, who died last night. Without her I'd never have learned to love nature, and that passion is without doubt one of the greatest gifts she could have passed onto me.

Who ignited that flame in you? If you can, say thank you to them. And then let's in turn pass the flame on, joyfully.

Love you, Mum. xxx

Edgeley Road Warming Up

Plenty of burrows now in the banks, plus more and more voles.