pond skaters do battle

he who trembles most, wins

the world is alive with the sound of living

Life is stirring; the air is buzzing with the hum of bumble bees and hoverflies, brimstones, peacocks and commas are emerging, celandines, daffodils, wood anemones and dog violets are in flower, long tailed tits, wrens, robins, great tits are singing out, buzzards are pairing up by soaring on Spring thermals, the fish were leaping out of the water. Spring.

 wood anemone

 comma and celandine

 robin singing his socks off

One thing I have noticed is that the first butterflies to emerge in early Spring are much more frisky and easily unsettled than later in the year and therefore harder to photograph. This is surprising given that it remains quite cool especially in the morning. It may be because as there are fewer of them at this time of year they are more conspicuous targets for birds and other predators, so it pays to be more agile.

Tutwell

the little hamlet of Tutwell, where Uncle Max was born, Dartmoor in the distance. Tutwell sits on the top of the Tamar valley. In the panorama below it is to the left, and a little hamlet called Townlake in Devon on the other side of the valley is visible to the right. As usual the photo has suffered from making it fit onto the blog page!

top of the hill

entrance to our village this afternoon, (with traffic sign impedimenta and bins removed, if only planning and highway law were so simple). See link for same view from an earlier page from this blog with different flowers and more information.

three favourites

butterbur, spot the native daffodil, and a crowd of ghostly mother superiors leaving this morning's woodland service

catkins

annual catkin photo against non annual blue sky, and, below, masses of very juvenile tadpoles. The greenish tinge in the middle of the photo is caused by the residual egg sacs from which they have emerged and which they are still feeding on. Unfortunately, it is very dry and like last year I think there is a real risk that these puddles will dry up before the tadpoles can mature.