23 March 2021

 

Had a walk early the last couple of mornings.  Plenty of Crossbills and Siskins about as usual.  Also managed to spot a couple of new flowers.

Colts-foot is always one of the first flowers to appear at the end of winter.  This one was to the left of the pond on the 3rd Blue.  It is a slightly unusual plant in that the flowers appear well before the leaves.

Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara [3rd Blue]

Rather unobtrusive and difficult to spot is Hairy Bitter-cress.  It is actually all over the course, but particularly near the wall around the 7th tee on the Green course and the Doghouse range.  

Hairy Bittercress Cardamine hirsuta [5th Red]

A couple of people have related that there were otters on the 1st on the Blue last year and the greenkeepers recently mentioned to me that they appear to have returned as they found fish remains on the trail between the pond and the nearby stream.  I put up a trail camera to watch this for the last few nights.  I appreciate that it's not exactly Planet Earth - but I think that the two moving white dots in this video are an otter....

The photo is marginally more convincing..

Otter [1st Blue]

There were 3 Reed Bunting on the pond on the 4th Blue with two males (bottom) fighting over a female (top).

Reed Buntings [4th Blue]

and the Song Thrush singing on its usual branch to the left of the 3rd green on the Blue:

Song Thrush [3rd Blue]

I spotted a Kingfisher above the pond on the farm behind the 2nd tee on the Blue.  I photographed this for a while before realising that it was a garden ornament (it was quite a long way away.).