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A beautiful crisp morning but much more springlike than recent weeks. There was a frost, but the sun took care of it pretty quickly.

Nice light, so I staked out the side garden for half an hour to see what fluttered by. Being fairly enclosed, this turns out to be a really successful vantage point because you can get a quick photo before the birds have had chance to oreint themselves and spot the camera, tripod and amateur naturalist standing out in the open. I have plans to make a more covert viewing are or ‘hide’ as we scentists call it, but it’s interesting to see how good the results are in an ‘al fresco’ setting.

Here’s little beauty number one, Parus caeruleus the very familiar Blue Tit (stop sniggering at the back).

Moving on, we have the chunkier Greenfinch, how do they come up with these names eh?

Carduelis chloris looking rather splendid I think.

Feeling quite chuffed I packed up and went to make a cup of tea, only to spot somebody I’ve been trying to photograph for months, swoop into the garden. Thus I finally managed to finally get some pix of one the super cautious Jays who’ve gradually begun to visit the garden.

Pesky patented ‘log feeder’ post sadly a bit too visible in this one.

this time the slick racing lines of Garrulus glandarius somewhat spoiled by having a crop totally stuffed with peanuts.

I’ll definately get better pictures, but for now these are rather nice.

The ancient orchards and hedgerows around Dymock in Gloucestershire, used to be well known for their profusion of native daffodils - Narcissus Pseudonarcissus - during early spring. Living so close by and being a well informed natural historian, it seemed appropriate to walk some of the Daffodil Way to see what remains of their former legendary glory.

Sadly it seems that the particularly frosty couple of weeks preceeding our walk have meant that for the most part, the bulbs are still only in bud. As we approached Dymock itself after following wonderful, long stretches of an 18th Century canal we were lucky enough to find a few examples in flower, but these really were the exception, not the rule.

“How do you know they’re natives, not those gaudy hybrid cultivars” I hear you cry! Well the petals of the native are relatively thin, slightly twisted and paler than the trumpet. They’re also about the same length as the trumpet which you can confirm in the next image:

I was also hoping there maybe a glimpse of some hares somewhere along the way, but my companions were vastly less interested in the noble arts of camouflage and being quiet, like what I am.

Damned Paparazzi!

A beautiful sunny day, so I thought I’d sit quietly in the garden and see what wandered past.

The exercise turned out better than I’d hoped for because I managed to add a new species to the list. I’d had suspicions of having seen these earlier in the year, but now I have proof:

A female Siskin
most likely a winter visitor fom continental Europe.

I suspect this next one gives a little insight into what they’re doing here:

a courting couple of Siskins
beautiful plumage certainly in comparison with the final image, the original LBJ (Little Brown Job)

a Dunnock
or as it used to be known, the Hedge Sparrow.

now infamous throughout the world through their use in the Woodland Trust March 2006 email Newsletter - here they are in all their uncropped glory:

The science bit is that Alder is monoecious - the catkins are the dangly male parts, the cone like structures are the female and the little red buds are the new growth.

For the past ten days or so, a massive flock of mixed corvids - crows, rooks and jackdaws has been almost permanently stationed in the recently ploughed and manured field to the back of us.

Having so many eyes constantly on the lookout, makes it very tricky to get into a good position to photograph them so for the time being this is my best effort, but with the recent acquisition of my ‘advantage timber’ patterned parka, I hope to get better results.

Last Sunday I watched the birds in the garden for the required hour. It ended up being between 12.30 and 1.30 which probably isn’t the best time to do it, early morning and just before dusk are the busiest times, but it yielded some interesting results, which I give to you now in no particular order:

1. Sparrowhawk
2. Buzzard
3. Mistle Thrush
4. Great Tit (3)
5. Blue Tit
6. Coal Tit
7. Greenfinch (8)
8. Goldfinch
9. Chaffinch (3)
10. Dunnock
11. Robin (2)
12. Jay
13. Carrion Crow (2)
14. Jackdaw (2)
15. Starling
16. Collared Dove (2)
17. Pheasant
18. Blackbird (4)
19. House Sparrow
20. Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Noticeable by their absence were the Nuthatches as they do seem to visit us most days, but I only looked in the back garden and they seem to prefer the side.