Orange Underwing

There was a smidgeon of rain first thing, but the skies soon cleared, and we've gloried in more spring sunshine. After a bit of report writing, I went to Holme Fen with Rosie, feeling in need of a change from my usual haunt of the river.

It was one of those days when you know spring is truly here - the first chiff-chaff of the year was singing in a birch, and the elusive orange underwings were abundant. These small, day-flying moths can be seen quite easily if they occur at a site, usually flying high around the tops of the birch trees that they breed on, or sometimes flittering along a sunlit ride, but they are rarely still and in previous years I've found them impossible to photograph well. Today I came across one of the very few flowering sallows in the reserve, which was attracting a whole range of hungry insects including bumble-bees, drone-flies, many commas and quite a few orange underwings.

The last couple of days we've been busy clearing out our ' junk' room, which we want to convert into another bedroom. This has necessitated clearing out the shed as well, so we can store a few things in that - we now have a lot of stuff to go to the tip on Monday and quite a few deckchairs to repair! We also mowed the lawn for the first time this year - can't wait till it's warm enough to start eating our evening meals outside :)