Eggs-ercise route

I turned my weekly visit to buy eggs from a friend into a much longer walk taking in a mussel forage on the way. Both the dog and I needed to stretch our legs a bit and we are fortunate to be able to do so in a relatively isolated fashion. We saw a total of 5 people in 3 hours, none at close quarters. 

The warm weather and the time of the year made it an opportunity for all sorts of interesting sightings: flowers in bloom and butterflies on the wing.
The two things that most captured my attention were, first, what's in the picture above - any ideas? These are lackey moth eggs pasted on to a hawthorn twig. Any day now they will hatch and the tiny emergent caterpillars will set about creating their own nursery, a protective tent of silk webbing angled to catch the warmth of the morning sun. One such had already been created by another set of larvae close by. They will continue to use it  when they are not busy  eating  young leaves and casting their skins as they grow bigger.

Second, I was delighted to spot, in a place I had long since given up on, some 'clocks' similar to, but not, dandelion: the seed heads of coltsfoot, by no means a rare plant but one that's uncommon in this area it seems. 20 years ago or more I found  it growing in this spot and then it disappeared. Now it seems to be back, which is a real thrill for me. I know that may sound ridiculous because it's just a plant, and the flowers were over,  but it's at moments like this I miss The Old Man, my half-brother. He and shared the same passion for natural history and it only needed one of us to say  coltsfoot for the other to respond Tussilago farfara.  We both liked the Latin name and the fact that it flowers very early in the year, a precursor of spring.

Extras show the caterpillar tent and the coltsfoot seed heads