Time For Spring Said Zebedee - Boing

 Today had the true feel of Spring as the wind was gentle and mild and the sun was out. No gloves for the first time in decades it seemed and the woolly hat was left abandoned at home.

The Treecreeper nest in the wood is still occupied and a pair are in residence. One of the birds was sitting when had a look in there.

Treecreeper sitting on nest

One bird is bringing in food but the other doesn't wait on the nest to take the food, it comes off the nest and meets the food bearer on the tree trunk.

Here's a short video of a bird entering the nest. It goes in via the widest part of the crack towards the top and then settles on the nest so that its tail sticks out of the bark lower down.

 This morning there were plenty of migrants coming in to join those already established. Top sighting for me was a couple of Sedge Warblers singing away in Heslops. Swallows and Sand Martins, Wheatears and Willow Warblers are all arriving now. I was actually lingering around Heslops hoping for a Grasshopper Warbler when I heard the Sedgies, but no Groppers turned up.

Chiffchaffs are now consigned to singing in the background when I'm walking through the woods and fields, whereas just a few weeks ago they were definitely being actively listened for and were therefore very much in the foreground. I watched one this morning feeding in a tree in second field and it was so wrapped up in catching flies that it didn't notice how close it had come. I could see daylight through its nostrils it was so close.

Chiffchaff with a fly

A few Chiffchaff studies

Workers were grafting away in second field by the Mere replacing fences, and as I watched the Chiffchaff they must have flushed a Brown Hare. It came....wait for it....hareing past me towards first field gate. Me being my usual sloppy self only got pics as it disappeared into the distance.

360 degree vision in evidence here

The standard Brown Hare levitation photo

All manner of plants and flowers are springing up all over t'place now and I can't for the life of me identify them all. I think this one may be Ground Ivy?

Ground Ivy(?) in the wood

Our pond is coming along well with frog spawn in place, which when the tadpoles hatch out, will be food for the resident Smooth Newts (Lissotriton vulgaris).

Smooth Newt in the pond

Smooth Newts have an orange belly and develop a wavy crest along their backs during the breeding season. This is the only time they are found in water as they spend the rest of the year on land, hiding away in damp places, and they cannot tolerate dry conditions as well as their UK relatives, the Palmate Newt (Lissotriton helveticus).