SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Yesterday's beautiful weather brought out the Brimstones. (I saw 12 of them from the car window)  I also saw a  small tortoiseshell butterfly, plus bluebells and white bells. At Langford lakes, all was peaceful. Species noted were tufted duck, mallard, great crested grebe, swans, greylag geese, canada geese, reed bunting, pheasant, blackbird, blue tit, robin, dunnock, coot, moorhen, lapwing, gold crest, green sandpiper grey wagtail, An osprey would have been nice, but sadly none appeared!

chaffinch

lapwing

grey wagtail

canada goose

not sure about this one!

bluebells

white bells

MARSH TIT AND MORE AT STANTON PARK

An unexpected day off and a sunny morning and I popped down to Stanton park with the aim of enticing those jays down! 
It was busy at the bird table, with plenty of blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits and coal tits visiting, together with a pair of nuthatches, several robins, dunnock and male chaffinch.  But no jay. I did spot it high in the trees though but it didn't come closer. 
As I got up to leave, a marsh tit flew past straight to the bird table and I was able to get a nice  shot of it eating its nut on a branch close by. 
Spring is definitely in the air with sheep and lambs and jackdaws nest building. 

coal tit

singing robin

nuthatch

dunnock

marsh tit

sheep and lambs

jackdaw nest building in tree hole

COATE WATER

Spring must have arrived, as I saw my first Brimstone butterfly of the year; it flew past just as I got in my car to go to Coate Water. Well, it is the first day of spring today.
Water rail, reed bunting and kingfisher (flypast) all seen at Coate Water today, together with, the usual waterfowl and woodland species. 

water rail which appeared for just a few seconds.

pair of canada geese

reed bunting

chaffinch

RED CRESTED POCHARDS AT WHELFORD

A sunny afternoon and still 13 degrees when I finished work so stopped off at Whelford nature reserve on my way home. Several red crested pochards present,  engaging in courtship offerings of weed , also tufted duck, mallards, swans, canada geese, long tailed tits, blue tits, robin, dunnock wren, moorhen, coot, heron , and a noisy flock of black headed gulls on and around the island. 

red crested pochards courtship weed offerings

long tailed tits fluttering amongst the branches

spring flowers at Whelford

STANTON - OH THOSE ELUSIVE JAYS!

Stopped off at Stanton park this afternoon; after a quick walk round the near-empty lake, I sat down to watch the bird table.  It was frequented by a  number of species, including blue tits, great tits, coal tits and long tailed tits, together with nuthatch and robin, but although I saw four jays at one time,, none of them visited the bird table, although some were tantalisingly close!  There's always next time....

male chaffinch

coal tit

long tailed tit

those tantalising jays!

female chaffinch

TINY BIRDS AT COATE WATER

Nice to have it drier underfoot at Coate Water today. Sunny weather but with a cool easterly breeze. Spent a little time in Hide 1 where there were good views of a wren, and then stood outside at the back of the hide to try some shots of a couple of goldcrests, difficult to capture because they move so fast and don't give you a chance to focus! My attempts are below!

wren

spent a long time in the sun preening

then was all fluffed up afterwards

a slightly out of focus goldcrest

goldcrest on the move!

cheeky!

SLIMBRIDGE

I have been meaning to visit Slimbridge for a while but wanted a reasonably sunny day, so today I went! 

Species seen included:
mute swan, barnacle geese, canada geese, white fronted geese, greylag geese, tufted duck, mallard, pintail, widgeon, shellduck, shoveler, pochard, teal, little egret, avocet  crane, lapwing, peregrine, oyster catcher, reed bunting, wren, dunnock, chaffinch, robin, bluetit, great tit, house sparrow, jackdaw, rook, moorhen, coot, goldfinch.

There has been a scaup viewed from one of the hides recently but not showing today, however I took photos of a tame one to compare with a tufted duck. 

reed bunting

pintail

avocets

shellduck

pair of jackdaws

white fronted geese

greylag geese

tufted duck 

scaup (tame)  

 

BULLFINCH AT STRATTON WOOD

A late afternoon walk at Stratton Wood today, beautiful blue skies, which showed up the colours of a male bullfinch well. The buds on the trees are beginning to sprout, probably what the bullfinch is after!  Also saw long tailed tits, blue tits, robin and dunnock.