Up to the Washes to take a look at our Lapwing area. No Lapwings at all on our farmland (largely because the Washes haven't flooded this Spring, but also because the winter wheat in the fields is now too high). We did see a Barn Owl though, so it was well worth going.

After we'd walked our stretch my survey partner, R, took me to Berry Fen, part of the RSPB's new Ouse Fen Nature Reserve project. I've not been there before, in fact never even really realised it was there, so I'm very grateful to R for showing it to me. Mallard, Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens, Gadwall, Shoveler, Godwits, Dunlin, Redshanks, Sedge Warblers, four Buzzards above, a solitary Egret and, yes, Lapwings. Loads of them, plus chicks :-)

A good morning :-)

The weather forecast yesterday morning said 'Spring!', so the kids and I went over to Brandon Country Park for a walk, a picnic, and some tree-climbing. Loads of butterflies around - Commas, Brimstones and Tortoiseshells - and several Chiffchaffs singing. A glorious day, warm enough in the sun for t-shirts, and with that lovely green smell of Spring in the air.

( Photos from the forest )

Down to the RSPB reserve at Fowlmere for a walk this afternoon, dodging the showers and enjoying some late sunshine.

( Photos )

( Species list )

I only had small numbers this year. As always, if I'd picked a different hour I'd have had more variety - there were no tits in my hour, whereas Blue, Great and Long-tailed are all usually quite frequent visitors.

2 Blackbird
3 Starling
2 Robin
1 Dunnock
1 Wren
3 Collared Dove
4 Woodpigeon
2 Chaffinch
2 Greenfinch
1 House Sparrow
1 Carrion Crow

A very gray and chilly morning, totally unlike yesterday. I could feel the blahs starting to set in, so I decided to get out and walk first thing.

The countryside where I live is not exactly scenic (too flat), but it does have pockets of great beauty if you know where to look. One good thing that has been happening around here over the last few years is that farmers have been opening up their land to give more public access. The farmer of the farm we walked over yesterday (the one with the roosting Barn Owls) has opened up a lot of his field margins as permissive bridleways for walkers and riders to use, and on his land it's possible to see deer, partridges, plovers and hares.

Going the other way out of the village there are two 'new' woods, planted 16 years ago, and the trees in these are now big enough to be 'real' trees and not saplings. Today I walked a new footpath that took me over to Girton, coming out through another 'new' wood, full of thickets of suckering Ash and surrounded by hedgerows with mature trees in them.

Today's walk (no photos, sadly, as it was too gray) yielded Muntjac deer, a black squirrel (a melanistic Gray), and my first singing Skylark of the year - and then, on my way back into the village, a big fox with a white-tipped brush hunting voles along a field margin (my second fox in 2 days - I saw one run across the fields while out with my daughter's ride yesterday).

So, I count myself thoroughly cheered up :-)

I take a walk almost every day, partly to try and stave off the blues and partly for my physical health - but mostly because you never know what you might see out there. Today as I walked I was noticing what seeds and fruits are still around and what the birds were interested in - the ivy is popular with the blackbirds, but what really draws them like a magnet is any crab apple tree.

( Some photos from my walk today )

A new bird for my garden list today: Blackcap.

A new bird for my garden list this morning - a female Great Spotted Woodpecker attacking the last of the peanuts in our feeder under the big tree. A shame the feeder's about to go away for the summer, or she might be back.