Out and about

After quite a bit of wet and windy weather, it was a nice surprise to have some decent spring weather today. Late morning I decided to do a bird survey around Rodden Nature Reserve. I hadn't been there for at least a month so it was great to spend some time there in the warm sunshine. The local Grey Heron was content to let me sneak up for snap shot. A good bonus was seeing a pair of Reed Buntings on the reserve. I expect they are just passing through, though it would be lovely if they decided to stay and breed. A couple of the nest boxes that we put up last year appear to be getting some attention, so it will be interesting to see if any are occupied this year. Just as I was about to leave, I heard and then saw a pair of Grey Wagtails on the Mill roof. I managed to get a distant photo of this beautiful and graceful bird.

The weather stayed good after lunch so my husband and I took a walk out at Mells, a local village where one of my BTO surveys is held. Whilst walking along the Mells stream I thought I had a very brief glimpse of a Dipper as it sped low along the river. It was such a brief look though that I'm not 100%. I hope I can confirm its presence when I do my two spring surveys in a month or so.

It was pretty quiet on the farmland section of the tetrad walk, but I did have this obliging Meadow Pipit to photograph. All in all a really lovely day to be out and about.