It might have been a grey blustery day today but that didn't stop some things at Cranford Park shining bright and beautiful.
More wild violets in the graveyard have emerged and are not only creating mini carpets under some of the tree canopies, but have self seeded in between several of the paving slabs....
The early bees are enjoying them too...
More Lesser Celandine have bloomed too....
and the whole time I was taking photos and admiring the flowers, I was serenaded by a Robin...
In Cranford Woods I found both Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers today, sometimes they were calling but mainly they were very flighty, only perching for a short while to look around.....
The light was not very good for photography today, hence my photos are certainly not my best...
 |
| Green Woodpecker |
 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
On my last couple of visits to the park I've noticed a Jay hanging around the same little copse of shrubs and trees. He/she was there again today, digging up buried acorns from deep under a bush, eating them and then wiping it's beak on a branch....
By the underpass there are two wild plum trees. A couple of Long-tailed Tits were picking their way through the blossoms....
and one was wiping its beak the whole length of the twigs. It's doing this to collect all the spiders webs so it can build it's intricately designed nests.....
I couldn't find any of their nests today, but did find a nest of another species of bird. More about that later....
In the Memorial Garden I found another two trees with bark damage, probably made by our visiting Muntjac and Roe Deer....
Sue and Jasper joined me for a little while and we followed a trail of deer 'slots' all along the side of the River Crane....
We must have found over 15 'slots' along the same stretch, and some of them were deep in the mud and splayed, which could mean the Muntjac was running rather than ambling along.
We even found some poop. Again, like last Tuesday, I am 99% sure this is Muntjac Deer pooh. It's a little bigger than the usual Rabbit droppings we are all used to seeing at the park, but it's much darker in colour, almost cylindrical and tapered at one end. There were five droppings stuck together, so I prised one off and put down a twenty pence piece for size comparison...
Rabbits tend to use a 'latrine' and all poop in the same place (as in the photo below). Their droppings are flat and round and usually a lighter colour....
I wasn't at the park for long today but I did see the resident Meadow Pipits, four Skylark and a Kestrel hunting over the open long grass land.
On Wednesday whilst on my way to work I heard the distinct call of a Goldfinch and located it to a tiny nest about ten foot up a tree. The nest was still being built and I checked on it every morning until today when I was able to finally photograph it. The leaves on the tree will soon be out which will shield my view from the nest, so I took advantage today and took several photos. The first three photos were in my favour with the light in the right place, but photo number four I had to heavily lighten and crop just to show the bird on the nest. I wanted a better angle of it. It does look like the nest is still being added to. I saw both birds bringing in nesting material today and adding to the tiny cup shaped structure. The nest is made of lichen, moss, small twigs, grass and generally lined with thistle down or more moss.
I also done a little research on the internet, and it's actually quite unusual for these beautiful little birds to nest so low down a tree. I'll be keeping my eyes on this nest. Fingers crossed they should start laying eggs in a week or so time....
.jpg)
So despite the grey skies and often blustery winds today, it was a pleasant day all round.
As always when I've seen Jasper on my travels, here is a photo of the bird-dog in the leaves. Apparently he saw me before I saw him today, and started following me. Bless him...
No comments:
Post a Comment