Saturday, February 20, 2010
The good times are coming!
Spring was in the air this morning, despite an overnight frost and low temperatures all day. We walked in forest and over heathland in bright sunshine.
We paused on the edge of a track to look at the view - and became aware of something moving on the slope just below. It was a woodlark. It had already seen us, so I clicked off a couple of shots.
The bird flew further down the slope - and at least three others followed it. We sat on a nearby tree-stump for a coffee-and-Danish-pastry break. A siskin was displaying somewhere, but there was no sign now of the woodlarks on the patch of ground where they'd gone down. As we packed up and walked off, we realised that they had made their way back up the slope and were again foraging close by. Some fluty contact/alarm calls were heard - roll on the singing season!Chaffinches were already in song everywhere, and in the pine-tops two siskins chased a larger bird which turned out to be a male crossbill. It had been a glorious day, but a shower of sleet on the way home reminded us that it is still winter.
// posted by Christine @ 7:45 AM 
