Sunday Afternoon's and The National Trust

On Sunday the sun shone. There is something quite special about walking around a National Trust Garden and park land. It can take you on a journey and provide an experience that could not happen without the presence of the National Trust's hard work. Sunday we went to Croome Park, which is just a few miles south of Worcester and is the location where Capability Brown made his name as a landscape gardener. Indeed the park land is quite spectacular, it is well laid out and has a great selection of trees perfectly positioned with follies of various kinds catching your eye. 

Croome Parkland

For me the real draw is the man made lake that runs through the centre of the parkland and in front of the house. The variety of wildlife is exceptional. There are often large numbers of Geese seen, as there were on this occasion, well over 100. In addition, to geese there were herons, swans, mallards, gadwall, tufted Ducks, kingfisher and a little grebe. This little grebe was the first I had ever spotted at Croome. Throughout our afternoon we were very conscious of the several hundred winter thrushes and starlings flying over head. In total we spotted an impressive 39 species of bird.

The Lake

The sun shone brightly in the afternoon and when you were in the direct light it felt positively warm. That was a welcome feeling after several days of bitter cold; spring is defiantly on its way. There were lots of signs of the coming spring like snow drops, which I have been seeing for a few weeks now.

Snow drops

 But for me the sight of this little drone fly (Eristalis tenax) got me very excited. It is quite a common species to see and often mistaken as a honey bee. It is not even in the same order. This hover fly has evolved to look like a bee in order to protect itself from predators. It had me fooled for a few moments. The way to tell if a flying insect is a bee/wasp (hymenoptera) of a fly (diptera) is the number of the wings (bees have 2 pairs flies 1 pair) and the length of the antenna (bees are long fly's short). They feed on pollen and nectar so contribute greatly to the workings of our ecosystems, and as they are out and about in cooler conditions they will pollinate when their mimics, the honey bees, cannot. Throughout the Uk there are 270 species of hover fly known.

Eristalis tenax

For most of the afternoon my daughter used the camera so most of these photos here were shot by her. She had great fun photoing piles of logs and swans. Her main highlights from the walk were, as expected, the mammals we encountered. Whilst in the woodland she spotted a shrew and a stoat. She also tracked down and spotted evidence of deer's and badgers. These are experiences that she will remember for a long time. I think that it is vital that we give our children as many experiences with wildlife so they understand how nature works and then will want to protect it.