As I fed my chickens at home this morning a pair of bullfinches plaintively called and a goldcrest squeaked out it's high-pitched song in the trees down the back. The longer days and sunshine seem to have things geed up a little; even if an overflying skein of pink-footed geese were a reminder of winter.
The daily dog walk along Red Cat Lane was enjoyed with a backdrop of corn bunting and yellowhammer singing and tree sparrows chipping in the hawthorn hedgerows.
I visited Latom Farm (just up the road) to help with conservation projects there and the place was a joy with bright sunshine and azure sky. Displaying lapwings and squabbling oystercatchers are always fun to watch and a snipe, grey partridges and red-legged partridges were also there today. Great to see so much lesser celandine flowering (photo below) on the Eller Brook flood bank - presumably good news for early emerging bumblebees.
One of the conservation projects has been the creation of a wildlife pond (see below with Jacob and Samuel inspecting); hopefully lapwings will bring their chicks to feed there later in the spring.
In the early evening sunshine I managed a walk at the other end of Eller Brook at another private site that's managed with wildlife in mind; Scutchers Acres. Highlights there were singing chiffchaff, nuthatch, goldcrest, treecreeper, coal tit and a pair of kingfishers zooming along the brook - a wonderful end to a lovely spring day.
The Eller Brook looking good in the sun
Moss in the sunshine at Scutchers Acres
Early spring canopy at Scutchers Acres
