A beautful day at Cranford Park

Today I was back on my patch at Cranford Park.

 

Sadly one of the first sights I saw was the remains of a drunken party left behind at the wood circle, one of my favourite spots at the park....

 

 

but after borrowing a bag and gloves from Bob Barton, I soon resolved that !

 

I don't begrudge anyone visiting the park, but leaving behind loads of broken glass bottles, numerous empty cans and several plastic bags when there are plenty of bins available, really is beyond me. It took me just twenty minutes to tidy up after this late night drunken get-together.

 

Anyway that wasn't enough to spoil my day.

My morning was spent with this lovely lot.....

 

 

tidying up the Secret Garden....

 

 

I think the only one that was bored was Ginny....

 

After making the garden presentable I then went off for a walk.

 

I came across a sleeping Wren......honestly. It was dozing on a log, eyes closed and basking in the warm sun....

 

 

It soon woke up though, and looked almost embarrassed at being caught out...

 

Good news today is that I found one of the park's Little Owls....

Bad news is I didn't get one photo of it.

 Suprisingly it wasn't where I normally see them. I was suspicious last year when they didn't return to the usual place (which was the Oaks in front of the Information Centre) and I guessed they had probably relocated to another area in the park. It looks as if I was right. Until I can be sure, I will keep the new location secret. But at least I have a general idea of where to search again.

 

The Ring-necked Parakeets are loved up and investigating nest holes.

I watched this one emerge.....

 

 

which was closely followed by it's mate.....

 

In the Ice House copse, there was a Kestrel just visible....

 

Another of my favourite places is the churchyard at St Dunstans.

This Robin has staked out it's corner of the yard near to Tony Hancock's memorial....

 

 

and the flowering Crocuses there provided me with my first Hoverfly of the year.

This tiny little lovely is Melanostoma scalare, a common species that is often seen in early Spring.....

 

I was also really pleased to find a good established clump of Anemone Blanda in the churchyard...

 

 

At the back of the stable block there is a very beautiful ornamental Acer.

You can tell Spring is here, because the Acer is starting to bud....

 

I also added to my collection of dog pals today by meeting Steve and his lovely pooch, Jenna....

 

It was a glorious day with good company this morning, some rather tasty boozey home-made cake from Gowan and plenty of laughs.

And my day was made complete by my first sighting of a Cranford Park Little Owl for over a year, and my first Hoverfly of 2016.