Spring sprung

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