Re-emergence

Always encouraging to see the speckled rosettes of new leaves  that  indicate the re-appearance of early spotted orchids. Sadly though there are fewer and fewer in this wood. Sheep and cows  get in and their feet and faeces alter the ecology of the habitat. Orchids like undisturbed conditions.

Tomorrow, Saturday, is also re-emergence day in Wales!  We can go where we like within the country and meet up with friends and family officially so long as we don't cross the border into England.


(The extra,  for aficionados only,  is the ejected pellet of a predatory bird -  owl or buzzard I Imagine -  that I noticed in the same wood. Most of the material is the fur of a small rodent, quickly consumed  with the undigestible parts regurgitated. You can see small bones, the biggest being part of the vertebral column I think, and visible on the right are  the victim's two upper incisors. The  yellow colour is normal in rodents and caused by an iron-bearing pigment which may strengthen the teeth.)