A few weeks of sunshine 22nd April

What a superb few weeks we have had since we last wrote. Spring is certainly here with us, and nature is now in full bloom. We have been visiting a few of our favourite locations over the past weeks and have lots of pictures to show you. The walks at Northward hill take you past a nicely maintained cherry Orchard that is now in full blossom, what a superb sight it makes.

Also enjoying the blossom was this Bumble Bee, buzzing happily away to himself as he collected all of the goodness from the flower to take back home.

And it was not only the Bees that were enjoying the blossom flowers. The butterflies were out in force, flitting from flower to flower and dancing playful aerial duets with their partners

Down at Elmley we found this little Ringed Plover sitting on her nest that was just inches from the roadway, and she did not seem in the least concerned when we stopped for a few minutes to admire her nest. Can you see how she is only half sitting on her eggs to keep the temperature just right.

Out in the river, a female Coot was also sitting on her nest. The nicely woven collection of reeds keeping her nest high and dry from the water but safe from any unwanted visitors.

The frogs were also out making extremely loud burbling noises to attract the females. They were mainly all hidden in the reeds but one obligingly swam out into the middle of the stream and posed for us with a big beaming smile

Across the river a quick movement caught our eye. It was a Hare stopping for a quick drink before hopping of back out of sight. Hares are a declining species in the UK so it was nice to see some of them out enjoying the sunshine

As we have not had rain for a while it was quite dusty on the reserves. I was trying to make out what the loud whistling noise was that I could hear and it turned out to be Mick, blowing the dust off from his lens!

Later on the walk, I spotted a pair of large birds coming our way, I quickly pointed them out to Mick and we got ready as they flew closer to us

And it was a pair of magnificent Mute swans, flapping serenely across the reserve. What an absolute superb sight they made as they flew past us to continue on their journey.

We would like to finish of today’s tale with a view from the top of the Northward hill walk, looking down at the farms surrounded by the fields of Rape. It will be a few more weeks before the Rape is ready to be harvested yet, but already it has started to get that gorgeous yellow glow to it.

We hope that you enjoyed todays tale. More pictures can be found in our galleries at
www.voinapics.co.uk

Steve & Mick

It's still Chilly but Nice at Elmley 31st march

Although it was nice and sunny, a strong chill wind was blowing at Elmley this weekend, so we wrapped up warm and set of for a pleasant mornings outing. As we drove through the marshes, we spotted a pretty Plover searching for insects. It was nice to see one of these about as we have not seen any for ages.

Nearby a Lapwing was also searching for food. This one was a bit more successful and happily showed off to us his prize catch before swiftly gobbling it up when the Plover wandered over to see what he had caught

Although chilly it was a lovely day and a nearby Mute Swan smiled back at us as he swam off to enjoy a slow lazy swim in the sunshine

You can see that spring is now with us, as the coots are busily making their large nests in the river. This one is now complete, and the female Coot was just checking it out for size whilst having a crafty nap before her partner came back

We saw some Redshanks here again today with quite a few Males running along the riverbanks, stopping every now and then to do a nice display of head bobbing to attract a mate.

A Loud honking overhead turned out to be a small flock of Mullard Ducks practising their synchronised flying. The honking was from the lead instructor giving the rear learner shouts of encouragement. As you can see, the learner has not quite got it right yet.

We stopped at the main car park and walked down between the bushes to see what small birds were about. Mick could hear a finch singing and walked back and forth trying to isolate it from the branches without any luck



I was more successful when I went after a little Robin. This Robin lives in the garden by the main RSPB office and normally pops over to say hello when we visit Elmley



Instead Mick checked out some of the smaller flying creatures and took this lovely shot of a busy bee sniffing out the nectar in some of the early spring flowers

Mick also wanted to try and take a shot of the Owls that can just be seen in the trees at the back of the toilet block, but I was too cold and sat in the car for a quick warm up, it was so nice and snug that I too had a crafty kip.

The Owls were a long way off and the day was very hazy but Mick managed to take this picture of one of them sitting near the Owl house that they live in. Can you see him sitting on a small branch on the right of the tree? As with all the photo's on this blog, if you click on it you will get a larger picture to see.

We hope that you enjoyed reading about our day out. More pictures can be found in our galleries at www voinapics.co.uk


Steve & Mick