Nature Notes, Winter and Spring 2019
The Goosander began to arrive on the College lake, with the first pair seen on 14 January and the final pair departing on 15 March. The latter date was also when the song of the chiffchaff was first heard, a sound heralding the end of Winter and the start of Spring.
Now Spring has officially started, and the temperatures are rising, the last week in March/first week in April saw the first sightings of the Brimstone, Orange Tip, Peacock, and Tortoiseshell Butterflies, followed by the Holy Blue and Speckled Wood in mid-April. But enough of butterflies, what about the swans? As can be seen in the photo below, our resident pair had five cygnets this year.