Nature Trail

After we picked my daughter up from school, and before our tea, I asked my three year old son and six year old daughter if we should go on a quick 'Nature Trail' to the end of the lane.  "YES!!" They both yelled with delight, and I knew I was on to a winner.

We ran down the lane, dodging the stinging nettles and brambles poking out from the hedge, until we reached the end of the lane.  We managed to spot several ladybirds Propylea 14-punctata (?), chiefly black with red spots.  ("Those," said my daughter sagely, "are poisonous.  You know that because they're black with red spots.  The normal ones are red with black spots.")  The ladybirds were on a large Sycamore tree, whose leaves had large black dots on them, and a couple of leaves had, what appeared to the naked eye, to have small insect eggs on them.

Also identified were Common Ragwort Senecio jacobaea, something resembling Field Fleawort Senecio integrifolius, ("Look at these beautiful flowers," said my son, proving that even the ordinary can be wonderful.) Upright Hedge-Parsley Torilis japonica, Perenial Sow-Thistle Sonchus arvensis.

We had a lovely time looking at some plants as well as trying to find some of the many insects that bobbed their heads up, before they dived for cover.

I would have taken pictures but was having too much fun with my kids.

PS My son managed to find another stick to add to his, already large, stick collection. ;-)

Welcome

Well, this is the first post of my new blog.  A few details first... I'm a 40-something dad with two young children, one 6 and the other 3.  I've been interested in the natural world and birds, insects, animals for some years (since I was a child), and with my children becoming more interested in nature themselves, I thought I might try and learn more too.

So this is going to be a web record of some of the 'discoveries' and fun that I have (as an adult) and that we have as a family when we explore nature.