Devon SSSI nature reserve and eco lodges - Maggie's Blog
13 April
Bigger chicks and spring butterflies...
The dunnock chicks have flown the nest - at least I presume they have because it's empty. I didn't take any more pictures as I'm told that, if disturbed, they tend to 'explode' out of the nest as soon as they start getting their flight feathes - and then can't be packed back in. But for a few days the could be seen resting fat beaks on the edge of the nest and looking like sulky teenagers. They're out on their own now!
So instead here is a picture of a bigger chick - a dark marran chicken - one of a clutch I bought at Hatherleigh Market a week or so ago. Unlike our 'egg machine' layers, this is a heavier 'meat' breed. We'd like to rear our own meat so we can be sure of it's wellfare while alive. So I bought a box of 8. We will rear and then eat the cockrells. If there are hens, we'll keep them in the hope of breeding more.
Meanwhile, on Popehouse Moor the blackthorn is in full flower in the older hedgerows and the insects are loving it. You don't get flowers like this if you flail your hedges every year as the blossom comes on the previous year's growth.
And butterflies are out in force. Orange tips are flitting between the cuckoo flowers (too fast for my camera). And the first brood of speckled wood (left) are out too. Even the trees are in bud.