A walk around St Marys churchyard

I fancied a walk today, and the family graves needed a tidy up, so I wandered up to St Marys church in Harefield. I also needed a bit of cheering up as I think my days of watching the fox family in the field may be over. I spotted the vixen moving at least two of the cubs earlier this morning. They seem to have headed into a nearby yard where my views aren't as good as they were. I guess only time will tell if they re-appear in the field again. Fingers crossed.

On one of the many grassy seed heads along the walk way to the church I spotted a mass of little black things. I thought at first they were aphids, but looking closer I could see eggs and teeny little beetles.....

They are shield bug eggs but I don't know of what species yet. 

I must admit I was very tempted to cut off the stem and take them back with me to raise, like I did with the Orange-tip butterfly eggs, but I figured they would actually be harder to look after so I left them in situ. When I passed back the same way a few hours later, most of the tiny bugs had already moved around to the back of the grass head. 

I also found my first Thick-legged Flower beetle of the season (aka Oedemera nobilis). The males have very swollen back legs, hence the name. The females look the same but without the thick thighs. This one was posed perfectly on an Oxeye daisy, so made for a nice contrast photo...

Considering the day was warm, bright and still, they weren't too many butterflies on the wing. I saw single numbers only of Large White, Small White, Peacock, Meadow Brown and Small Heath but I only managed to actually photograph the three below. Species name under each pic...

Small Tortoiseshell, a rather tatty older one

Small Skipper

Large Skipper

After weeding the graves I settled myself on a bench in the shade and listened to the birds. I could hear a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling, and I could pinpoint the noise to one old tree with many holes and not many leaves. 

But could I see the little darling ? 

Nope ! 

Instead I spotted something smaller, just as colourful and even better it was tending to a nest hole.....

Can you spot it ?

A Nuthatch.

And not just one. I watched for ages as both parents regularly bought in food and disappeared head down into the nest hole. and I was rewarded with the lovely sight of a chick reaching up to grab food. 

As you can see from my first photo I stayed a respectable and discreet distance away from the tree, and all of my photos are heavily cropped. 

A really pleasant surprise, and only my second Nuthatch nest ever. 

No doubt I'll be wandering back over there again soon. 

Keep well everyone and stay safe