Make Hay whilst the Sun Shines

I'll start again with my garden. Yet another first for my garden just recently, this Lesser Redpoll. This is a large crop but you can see what it is. I was really chuffed to see this at the bottom of my garden.

This Hawfinch was a nice find in the Forest of Dean this last week. This is a male bird.

A day out reptile hunting produced some good results. This is a Slow worm, a real contradiction, its called a worm, it looks like a snake, yet its a Lizzard, albeit a legless one.

This one was about 10-12 inches long. You can pick Slow worms up but they excrete a nasty smelly Poo type substance. Unless you have a reason to pick them up It might be best to leave well alone.


I love the tongue poking out on this shot.

The Forest of Dean has a number of areas where snakes can be found. This is a male adder, He is about to shed his skin, you can tell by the colour and milky look of his eye.

This is the famous melanistic Adder, that was featured in the Forest Review newspaper a week or so ago. You can see he's almost completely black. This picture was taken by me this week so he's not suffering too much from fame, although there have been a number of people taking his picture this week so you could say he's being papped.

Just a note of caution, its not a good idea to try and handle an Adder, their bite can be fatal in people with underlying health problems and even if it doesnt kill you, you will certainly know its bitten you.

Neither the Adder nor the Slow worm were harmed in the making of this blog entry.

Snatched opportunities.

After the recent spell of dry weather we are well and truly suffering now as we move into April and the historical April showers.

So its been a period of snatched chances, I will start with my garden. The Woodpigeons that visited my garden in numbers are now gathering twigs for nests, the trees at the back of my garden have seen large numbers sitting in the branches.



In the forest there were the usual Nuthatches, I am well aware that I post a lot of shots of Nuthatches on this blog, but in all honesty I think they are a beautiful bird.



Ditto with the Robin.



A trip out to look for Hawfinch didn't produce any so instead I had to satisfy myself with this Squirrel.



A cheeky little chappie.



The Great Crested Grebes are starting to nest build and at this time of year you are likely to see them doing their dancing rituals, Unfortunately I didnt, the weather only allowed for this shot.



The Grebes are having to compete for nest sites with the Moorhen,

and the Coots. I read in one of the nature magazines that Coots are notorious for smashing eggs on the nests of nearby competitors, I guess its a food supply issue, they have to ensure they have enough for their chicks. I hope the Grebes don't nest too close to the Coots.

You can see from it's low down position that this one is chasing off another, they fair power through the water and then raise up and run along the top chasing off the other birds that have wandered too close to their territory.

I'll finish off back in my garden. There have been up to four Goldfinches in my garden at any one time this week. They truly are a colourful little bird. Very pretty.

Easter weekend has been a washout so far, I feel for anyone who books a weekend away and gets weather like this. Lets hope that the weather picks up, The Met office are predicting a Barbecue summer, didnt they do something similar last year? I wont hold my breath.

My female Blackcap has not been around for a few days, she must have found a mate, good luck to her in raising a family this year.

The mornings are full of birdsong now, Its a pleasure to wake up and open the window for a listen. Chiffchaffs are often singing nearby and I'm hoping they may visit the garden which has lots of long grass and bushes for them to find insects.

Visitor from abroad.

An unusual and rather rare visitor came to Gloucestershire this last week. A Great White Egret. It was wearing rings from which it has been identified has having been ringed in France. It has also been spotted at various places around the Uk including Lancashire and Newport in Wales.

I waited, unfortunately, until the weather had taken a turn for the worse and only got distant shots in poor light. The first of the pictures below is probably the best, but its such an amazing bird I thought I'd include some others of it.

Hope you enjoy them.

At the same time I also saw my first Chiffchaff of the year and my first swallows too so all in all despite the poor weather a nice time was had. It was also made better by meeting a few very nice people, One of whom was a lovely lady called Cherry and another was Richard Smart, a very informative gentleman who lives in Huntley. It was nice meeting you both.

Buzzard

Its unusual to get close enough to a Buzzard to get a single shot, but this obliging bird sat still for long enough for me to get a few. These are the ones I like the most.



He was quite a pale fronted fellow, I say he, it could have been a she I dont know. I love the shadow in this one, it gives the eye a more menacing appearence. If you click on this you will see it in a much bigger form and see the detail more clearly, I think this is my best Buzzard shot for a long while.

A beautiful bird.

Been a quiet period for me these last few weeks. A trip up to mums took up a bit of my time so I haven't done a lot.

As always click for bigger picture.

Fun at the Feeders Pt 2

Continuing my feeder theme, here are a few more pictures from various feeder stations in the forest.

This Treecreeper is a regular visitor to the Arboretum. It works it's way around the fallen tree.







This Stock Dove is very skittish, it is easily spooked.




Nuthatches can be seen all around the Forest of Dean.




They are a beautiful bird to photograph.




A small flock of Long tailed tits have been visiting the feeder at Cannop.





The usual tits also frequent the various feeder stations.

The Great tit.




The Blue tit.

The Chaffinch is sometimes accompanied by Brambling but I have not seen any this winter.

A very underrated bird is the Blackbird. Dont you love the contrast of the beak to the body?

Theres always things to see in the Forest of Dean.