SPRING!!

 First of all - we had two Great White Egrets at the Mere this morning. I saw them from Southorpe Road after Jon told me they were present, then when I eventually got to the hide they flew in.

Two Great White Egrets in Decoy reedbed

Spring was definitely in the air this morning. It was calm and sunny and warm. Birds were singing, bees were humming, flies were buzzing and flowers were...well, flowering 😀

I spotted my first Speedwell of the year - lots of them in the set aside field.

Common Field Speedwell (Veronica persica)

The blackthorns are flowering now too, like a few shrubs they flower before the leaves come out and then the blossom eventually turns into sloes later in the year. They are quite long-lived too - up to 100 years.

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)

On one of the blackthorns I spotted a fly, it turned out to be a Yellow Dung Fly, not on its usual patch of sheep poo😉

Yellow Dung Fly on blackthorn

I found a new fly species for me today. Gonia picea. At first sight it looked like a bee.

Gonia picea - quite hairy for a fly

After only mentioning the other day that I hadn't seen a Brown Hare for a while, one ran across a field yesterday morning. It was way off in the distance so no chance of a pic but it was great to see.

Back to this morning's walk and a Mistle Thrush flew up from the ridge and furrow field by Weatherhill into a tree. I managed to get relatively close for a pic or two.

Mistle Thrush

In the wood the dawn chorus was sounding really good this morning. I stopped about half way to the hide and listened for about 5 minutes and here's a list of the birds I heard, either near by or distantly:   Great Spotted Woodpecker (call and drumming); Great Tit; Blue Tit; Rook; Jackdaw; Pheasant; Mallard; Buzzard; Blackbird; Dunnock; Robin; Wren; Chaffinch; Chiff Chaff; Cetti's Warbler. This will only get better as spring wears on and the early warblers get into the wood and surrounding area.

While I was in the hide waiting for the egrets to emerge from the reedbed again (they didn't!) there was plently to keep me entertained:

Like ships that pass in the night

The long-staying solitary Tufted Duck

Male Marsh Harrier

Cream crown Marsh Harrier

Grey Heron

Grey Heron close up

A few Goldeneye

As I was walking back home the two Great White Egrets came back to the area by the Cormorant Trees.