Messingham Sands bits.....

Coltsfoot.

Male Common Toad.

After finishing my last nightshift of the week and dropping Trace at work i decided to visit MSQ for a few hours.A few notable birds were seen today and included at least 8 Chiffies around the reserve,with one already nest building and 52 Wigeon and 14 Cormorant on the main lake and 2 Common Buzzard overhead.But,today was the first day i have seen good numbers of insects with the highlights being my first reserve Orange Underwing,my first 2 Comma of the year,3 Peacock,2 Kidney-spot Ladybird and at least 15 Bee-Fly.I also saw my first beautifully metallic Gymnochaeta viridis,with their bottle green abdomens and also my first Bombus pascuorum,with 2 being seen.There is a noticeable lack of flowers yet,but a few Marsh Marigold are starting to bud now and i also saw a few clumps of Coltsfoot.A nice few hours in the spring sun.