Killhope sunshine and Larch Cones at Low Bat

Chris and I visited Killhope at the top of Weardale on Sunday. There was warm Spring sunshine but still snow on the tops. We called at Low Bat in the afternoon and saw these lovely female Larch Cones near the river.

Otters at Low Bat

I had a walk along the Low Bat Reserve near Frosterley today with Peter Stephenson from the Wear Rivers Trust. We saw Grey and Pied Wagtail, Oyster Catcher and Fieldfare.
Just outside the artificial Otter holt created at the site was some fresh otter spraint on a river boulder.

Great Tits in the nest box

A pair of Great Tits is investigating the nest box each day. They have been photographed with a motion detection camera (see time lapse movie below). They are going in and out of the box in the early part of the day, but they are not building properly yet.

Barn Owl at Low Barns

I returned to Low Barns yesterday to see if I could get some more views of the resident Barn Owl. I was rewarded at dusk with some good views of it flying and also a great view of it catching and eating what looked like a vole of some sort.

The pictures and video are a bit grainy as the light was going.

Even more frogs

The Common Frogs are still very active in our garden pond. Twelve individuals at the last count! At night when it is quiet you can hear them croaking from just inside the house.

Willow Spiling and spring lambs

I spent today up at Low Bat Reserve in Weardale repairing a section of river bank that had broken away in the spring floods. There were some very cute spring lambs in the fields where we were working.

Spring is really coming - bats and frogs.

Chris saw a Pipistrelle flying at dusk two nights ago.
Today out garden pond is alive with Common Frogs all doing their thing. We also have frogspawn!
I counted seven frogs at one point.

Fungi and Celandines

Went for a walk in Hawthorn Dene this morning and found these King Alfred's Cakes fungi on a fallen log. There was also a nice patch of Celandines in the meadow area at the E end of the Dene near the sea.