With poor weather the last two days I have been doing other stuff but a few incidental sightings of common field speedwell and sweet violet keeping my plant photo project ticking over. I popped in to see the melansitic grey squirrels at Letchworth as I was passing but little else.

I popped to Waylands Wood after work and dodged the showers to find some flowering yellow star of Bethlehem. I found about 20 or so flowering nicely with plenty more to come. I took a wander and found a few other plants flowering, primrose, early dog violet and barren strawberry and I made it back to the car before the heavens opened.

I was up at dawn, rechecking the bays again without any sign so about lunchtime I headed south. I made one stop at Musselborough where the White winged Scoter was showing distantly with a couple of velvet and common scoter but no sign of the surf scoter. I made it back home 1600 miles later but no walrus, still he who dares Rodney!

Chips - Cafe Central, Dunbar - Haggis and Chips 8/10

I chanced my arm and headed to Caithness to search for the Walrus, spotted there off and on over the last week. The uneventful drive took me into Sutherland where I stopped for 3 nice red deer stags shortly after dawn. I hit the coast and checked out every bay and beach on the OS map from Bettyhill to Amadale when news from Friday was it had been seen at Freswick. So there was my next destination but no sign so I searched south to Wick and then back north to Armadale. I searched along the coast to Wick for Chips stopping at Freswick once more and bumped into some locals looking for the walrus without any luck. A few nice common seals during the day and a few nice birds such as hooded crows, whooper swan and genuine rock doves

Chips - Henrietta's, Wick - Haggis and Chips 8/10

I popped into the Forest of Dean on the way home. Plenty of snow on the ground and loads of tracks shut. I met up with Ben and we headed for a wander to find some wild boar. No sign of wild boar but a brief flyover Goshawk was nice. We took a drive round and found a small herd of fallow deer and a small sounder of boar. Time was against us and we headed off after our brief visit.

I was staying on the Gower peninsular and spent a few hours in the afternoon doing a bit of wildlife watching. First stop Pennard Castle home to a scarce plant yellow whitlow grass which was flowering nicely, maidenhair spleenwort, navelwort and danish scurvey grass also present, all difficult to photograph in very strong winds. I braved these at Worms Head where a wander brought me a short eared owl but little else of note.

I found the only warm evening of the last few weeks to put the moth trap out only 3 moths but nice to get something. Common Quaker, With a few toads and common newts out as well spring looked to be on the way.

I had set 35 traps at a rather rainy Fowlmere RSPB reserve the night before. A wildlife explorer group assisted me in opening them in much drier conditions. We had 8 captures not too bad considering the time of year. wood mice of course the most common 5 of those and 2 field voles are always nice to see, but the pick was a lone pygmy shrew allowing me to show all three types of small mammals. Not a bad morning.