SPRING IS IN THE AIR
WEATHER; glorious sunshine, no wind, nice temperature.
These last few days have been magical, the high pressure sitting over the UK has produced some fantastic, sunny days. Dawn and I have walked to many places but today I was on my own 'back on patch'.
walking into the Yeo Valley with the local stream on your left and the River Yeo 1 mile ahead.
Thirteen Little Egrets have returned to the meadow, I digi-scoped fhem from the garden and when I walked into Yeo Valley I photographed them again from the far side of the meadow, the second picture shows my living room windows. also in the meadow I saw Jackdaws, Crows, Magpies, Wood Pigeons and at least 5 Blackbirds.
here are twelve of the Little Egrets, photographed from my garden
and 7 Egrets photographed from Yeo Valley showing my lounge windows and garden fence
Bird song was coming from everywhere, mainly Robins and Wrens but I also heard Chaffinch, Dunnock and Song Thrush. At least three Great Spotted Woodpeckers were drumming, I caught up with one of them.
This shot shows a male Great Spotted Woodpecker, it was drumming at the time.
another bad record shot of the woodpecker
I walked past two Godlcrest-nesting sites where the males were singing away. The third Goldcrest site I came too, I stopped and waited for him to appear. Sure enough I caught him singing in the sunshine.
a Goldcrest, he was sitting still whilst singing
a better shot of the Goldcrest
Other species noted were: noisy Rooks, they get much louder now they are nesting again! I heard Green Woodpecker in the distance, I saw Common Buzzard, Blue, Great (singing), Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Treecreeper (not singing), flyover Mallards, Cormorant, Herring Gulls and this lovely Grey Heron.
Grey Herons look great in breeding plumage, this one isn't quite there yet!
The Long-tailed Tit sighting gave me the most pleasure because a pair of them were building a nest in a clump of brambles, almost exactly the same place as they did during lock-down in 2020.
after each visit to their nest, when they added more nesting material (moss and cob-webs), the birds would sit down and shuffle about forming the shape of the base of the nest (which you cannot see in this picture).
You cannot see the actual nest in the picture because they have only built the base of it, I am sure in future pictures I will be able to show you their nest (if the leaves on the brambles do not sprout too quickly).
I also had walk through the village during the afternoon and saw my first BUTTERFLY of the year, a female ORANGE TIP. It flew off before I could get my phone out to picture it.
Other recent walks:
27th Feb Weymouth: Lodmoor to Newtons Cove: birds of note were Great Northern Diver and Black Redstart in Newtons Cove.
Newton's Cove looking eastward, you can see the White Nothe cliffs across Weymouth Bay
Looking across Newton's Cove and Portland Harbour to Porland
we saw at least 4 Chiffchaffs enjoying the insects that the warm sunshine had brought out
Ruddy Turnstones: there is always a welcoming commitee on the Weymouth Pier, they are so tame they must be fed quite often.
the Old Harbour where we ate our Fish and Chips lunch, sitting in the sunshine
1 st March: Weymouth: Radipole Lake to Ferrybridge:
extremely low tide today, I have never seen it this low!!
2nd March: Lyme Regis: River Lim walk from Uplyme to Lyme Regis Mariner.
Dawn, on the 'river' path to Lyme Regis
The River Lim Walk with Dawn produced nothing much! Not a Dipper, Grey Wagtail or much at all. Out on the Cobb there wasn't any Purple Sandpipers or Turnstones. This is because the tide was so low that they were out feeding somewhere else.
4th March: Milborne Port Village: St John's Church to see Hawfinches
I saw one Hawfinch in this Churchyard after two hours of searching: also on view were: Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker (heard), Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Greenfinch, Robin, Wren, Blackbird, Starling and Song Thrush