Peak Forest Canal - signs of spring

As it was a beautifully sunny day on Sunday 23 April, a walk out with the camera seemed like a good idea, so I decided on a stroll along the Peak Forest Canal, starting at New Mills.

There were a few butterflies to be seen, Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines), Comma (Polygonia c-album) and Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria).

This Tree Bumblebee was visiting comfrey flowers growing beside the towpath.

There were a few birds to be seen - amongst them a blackbird, a great tit and a grey heron fishing.

Plants seen included several cowslips, seen in patches of grassland along the towpath, and toothwort, a parasitic plant, seen growing in a patch of woodland beside the canal.

The comfrey that the tree bumblebee was visiting is Caucasian comfrey (Symphytum caucasicum|), an introduced species.

I also saw some Giant Horsetails, both young sterile stems and earlier fertile stems dying back after spore release.