On the nest!

The Blackbirds that built a nest by the office window two feet from my PC are incubating eggs! Bless!
Three flirtatious Blackcaps in the garden this morning....

T'ick 'n' fast!

A six-miler around Strumpshaw, Buckenham & Hassingham produced another four patch ticks for the year: Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat on Lackford Run, Common Tern from Tower Hide and a flyover Whimbrel!

Other interesting birds were 12 Blackcaps, 3 Buzzards, dozens of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs and five Cetti's, including quite a showy individual by Reception Hide.

From Hassingham, I add a photo of a nice, bright Lesser Black-back and a really rare flower: Spring Snowflake, while the back lanes near Blofield Heath produced a beautiful patch of wild Hellebores....

 

Slim pickings!

A walk around Strumpshaw & Cantley with Brian Tubby wasn't that productive: Blackcaps, Willow Warblers & Chiffchaffs aplenty, but nothing to set the pulses racing.. Four new patch ticks for the year: Sand Martin, House Martin, Curlew & Med Gull.

Tumbledown!

Walking from Strumpshaw to Buckenham, I managed to trip over a deep pothole in the road (obscured by leaves!) and mangle my right knee and arm: ouch! This somewhat detracted from the lovely weather and excellent mix of migrants - some leaving, some arriving - but I got a few reasonable record shots....

Spring is sprung!

A 'window of opportunity' opened this morning, so I dragged on the boots and drove to Buckenham: I had intended to start at Strump, but there was an open day for beginners and children.....
OK: it was such a sunny day, I decided to give my Tamron 500mm mirror lens an airing. Tricky to use, but, in my opinion, worth the effort! Not much new at Buckenham: two Avocets, lots of Ruff and Redshank and a pair of Buzzards

So: Willow Warbler, Blackcap & Chiffchaff in abundance: the belt of woodland between Strump & Buck was full of all three! At Fen Hide, a Heron made hard work of a large frog, while a Snipe nestled among the dozing Teal: I nearly managed to photograph a Cetti's Warbler!.

The walk back to the car at Buck station provided good close views of a Buzzard, a pair of Treecreepers, and lots of butterflies, including these two Small Tortoiseshells.

Odds & ends

I realised I had omitted to post a picture of the superb drake Mandarin that Linda & I watched at Boulter's Lock on the Thames: while I was remedying this, I thought I'd add the two Wheatears we saw at Winterton and a Marsh Tit that visited our back garden. It's pouring with rain here on the Heath, so fingers crossed for the weekend!

By the Thames....

A quick dash down to Maidenhead to give a UFO lecture provided great views of some of the area's specialities: Red Kite, Grey Wagtail and Mandarin as well as a tree-ful of Nuthatches!

A walk in the sunshine!

It really did feel like Spring today: there were Chiffchaffs everywhere at Strumpshaw and a patch year-tick came in the form of a Black-tailed Godwit over Fen Hide. Other interesting sights were a pair of Marsh Tits, a Stoat (fleetingly!) and a large (100+) mixed flock of Redwings, Fieldfares and Mistle Thrushes. with the odd Oystercatcher thrown in for luck!
Lots of Brimstones and Small Torts on the wing, too....
The Hare count has risen to a dozen: most I've seen playing together!

Look who came for breakfast!

This delightful pair of Muntjacs spent half an hour in our garden this morning! Linda wasn't desperately thrilled that the female was eating the new shrubs she put in yesterday!