Mother's Day?

Although it was a little belated, this morning, we celebrated Mother's Day by taking Malcolm's mum to Attenborough Nature Reserve.  The weather was unusually fine and the sun was shining beautifully as we walked around the wetlands and flooded gravel pits.

Near the visitor's centre, we were delighted to see a pair of Egyptian Geese staking a claim the best nesting place.

Floating around on the water was a gorgeous Red-crested Pochard.

Malcolm's mum noticed a small, brown bird picking about the shallows - a Water Rail was looking for food and being unusually bold for such a normally shy bird.

We have often heard the pig-like squealing of a Water Rail around the lakes of Pewit Carr, but never seen one there, so it was lovely to get such a good view of one here. A first for Malcolm!

Further on and a Bullfinch was posing on a branch, looking plump and round as he fluffed up against the cold breeze.

And a more familiar Robin seemed to be following us all round the reserve.

Soon, it was back to the car and off to have lunch to round off the morning - and the weather held nicely!

Bitter

Once again, I'm back, apologising for not posting very much recently. But, in my defence, it has been rather rotten weather and this morning, finally, we got out for a brief walk to Straw's Bridge. After the snow and plunging temperatures of the last few days, the countryside was looking a little worse for wear.

The few birds we saw as we slithered along the Nutbrook Trail, were desperate to find something to eat, but the Long-tailed Tits were still about as were several Robins - which gave the scene a look of Christmas rather than nearly Easter.

At long last though the snow was beginning to melt as a thaw set in and if it hadn't been for the bitterly cold wind which seemed determined to cut us in half, it would have been a much nicer walk.

Hopefully, as things start to improve this week, we will manage to get out and about a bit more, giving me the opportunity for some more blog posts.

Back Out

Recently, the weather has been particularly unkind to us. The severe frosts and snows of last week coupled with a biting wind-chill, were followed by a thaw, rain and very muddy conditions. All of which have left things extremely wet under foot and not very conducive to a  good walk in the countryside. But things have started to look up a bit this week, so with the sun shining onus at last this morning, we set out for a walk around the 'farm walk'.

A few green buds are starting to appear in the hedgerows, but the trees remain bare and wintry, but the blue skies were an improvement.

Along Slack Lane, it was a bit wet and in a few places, the snow was still clinging tenaciously to the ditches and paths...

... particularly where the sun hasn't yet managed to reach the ground.

But the birds were singing brightly from the tree-tops and the Ivy clinging to these Oaks, gave the impression of the greenery to come.

Back home and I was particularly pleased to see that the Bluebell seeds which I collected last year, have started to germinate. So, lets hope we soon have a colourful display of blue in the garden.