Shewalton Woods revisited mission unsuccessful.

The wind had changed to a northerly bringing with it a coldness not normally found at this time of the year, even in Scotland. I used up my daily exercise to revisit Shewalton woods. It was probably too cold for butterflies so my mission was to see if the Canada geese had a family yet.
If your favourite colour is green then you are in luck today as this was the predominant colour by far. The trees have leafed so the wood is almost in its full leaf canopy.

All green now

There was noticeably less bird song, maybe they have all found their partners and now no need to advertise. Some movement caught my eye and this reed bunting hiding in chopped down branches.

Reed Bunting

One of the blots on the landscape is Hillhouse Quarry which you only get a brief glimpse of from here. If you are much further back at the Irvine Bay dunes you get a fuller picture of the tiered quarry, not a pretty sight.

An altogether nicer sight are the patches of daisies. I love the rose/purple tips that show before they fully open.

Daisy

Make a wish, guess what?

Again very quiet, only a couple of dog walkers. Funny how you get Covid glares from other people on walks these days, all right for them to be out walking but not for you!

Name the insect?

Another bright colour plenty of dandelions, some emerging and others getting ready to sow their seeds.

The male at the nest last week

I reached the pond but no geese to be seen. I presume that they will not have hatched and be away yet so did they fail or have they been disturbed? The female was certainly sitting hidden on the floating structure for a few weeks. I would go with the latter. So my mission failed today.

Red breast showing strong

More movement caught my attention and this lovely Robin still with a strong red breast showing.
More singing up in the canopy and got this male Whitethroat.

Whitethroat (m)

And then more singing in denser trees had me hunting about before I spotted this one which I believe is a Willow Warbler/Chiffchaff but not 100% sure.

Willow Warbler?

The damp ground is fertile for the rushes and although in their poor persons coat they are still impressive. The heads will explode to send the seeds far and wide. It's root is edible to certain animals. This is commonly known as the False Bulrush or Greater Reedmace.

False Bulrush

Overall I did get one butterfly, a female orange tip which I have added to the butterfly blog. But the main purpose of seeing the goose family today sadly was a let down, I was hoping to see a number of wee ones on the water swimming after mum, not to be.