I’ve always loved playing in the woods, since being knee high to a grasshopper I have enjoyed the smells of leaves gently decomposing and the crackle of dried twigs breaking underfoot, the acid fresh smell of growth in spring and the heat and dust of summer and that’s even before spotting any birds.  I don’t think children make very good bird watchers, but we did make very good tree climbers and swinging on old ropes over deep crevices whilst our mothers watched in horror, paddling in brooks trying not to get caught by the leeches and collecting leaves and nuts, seeds and berries and sometimes caterpillars and slow worms.  I’ve loved it all.

I especially love the tranquility of being on my own. Maybe that comes from being part of a large family but I know it feeds my soul more than anything else. So the other day I left hubby in a hide playing with the big lens, he seemed a happy boy and took off around the woods to play.  I played at photographing the small birds and had a little success when I came across the type of clearing that I had hoped to find.

Unpacking my 20 mm, my mini tripod and my remote control, I set to work. I managed to photograph what must be the ultimate selfie.. how I laughed when I saw it. 
Acid greens against blue skies, just beautiful.

I must make time to play in the woods some more.

I have had one ear open for the last couple of weeks ready to hear the first calls of the Cuckoo. On Saturday while wandering through the woods I gave a little gasp of delight as I heard the Cuckoo’s distinctive calls.  It was a lovely sunshiny day and the Cuckoo called merrily away at some distance, never close and I wondered whether I would see it.

While playing in the woods a couple of fellas I was chatting to pointed out the Cuckoo as it flew past, but of course it was much too fast and through all those branches impossible to photograph.

At the end of the afternoon I was enjoying a lovely sit down in the sunshine, listening to the warblers and waiting for one or two to pop up out of the reeds whilst at the same time listening to the odd call from a Cuckoo, when a friend wandered by and stopped for a chat.

And as we chatted and waited for warblers he noticed at great distance a blob on the top of a dead tree and immediately said ‘that’s a Cuckoo’ I exclaimed with, ‘how do you even know at this distance!’.  So I took a snap and blew it up and sure enough there were the distinctive bars on the breast of a Cuckoo. Wow, even double Wow as it is my first ever Cuckoo photograph.

The next day, gossip was rife with the boys at the nature reserve and they merrily ribbed me about my blob of a Cuckoo, even casting aspersions as to the calibre of my accomplice who had pointed it out…  How I laughed, as I recognised the lightest twinge of envy that the newbie had snapped the first Cuckoo of the season.

My first Cuckoo, it was a thing of beauty. 

Nearly at the end of April and the weather improves daily. Recording my mileage has not been without serious hiccups, not least my Fitbit stopped recording so I had to wait for a new one and later I simply lost the charger. I know, but it’s only about three inches long and has obviously been put somewhere. So while resisting the temptation to buy a new one whilst waiting for it to turn up, it didn’t, I wasn’t counting as accurately.

Now I have sat and worked out I am averaging 2.4 miles a day, well my phone worked out it was 2.2 but as there are big chunks missing as I don’t tend to take my phone with me on days out if hubby and I are together, I’ve tweaked it a little, but not a lot.

Which means I’ve walked 268 miles.  Not quite on track but the summer is ahead of us and so are the long glorious days.

These birds are quite small, extremely well camouflaged and are timid and enjoy disappearing into long grass. I am very lucky to have seen these birds as they moved quickly for a few seconds. 

I’ve always wanted to see these birds close up, and now I have.  Another long held dream ticked off. 

Loved up Greylags, the prettiest of all geese with their orange bills, pink legs and beautiful grey feathering.

The last week or so has been busy again.  Hubby and I have enjoyed our almost daily jaunts and although we only do about 4 miles a day on foot going to and from the various hides, it all adds to our feeling of well being. Perhaps just sitting in the cold without central heating and a comfy chair to lean back into helps to tone one up, one can only hope eh!

So what have I seen?A water Rail, that was a real treat as they are such secretive little birds.  I’ve not upped the red, the beak really was that bright, it must be at the peak of being ready to breed. A nice little Robin singing a happy song as we left one evening, I shot this with just a little fill in flash and its turned out pretty well – the Robin didn’t seem to mind at all. The Lapwings were out for a spin. They are amazing to watch as one never knows which direction they will spin off into next, amazing acrobats and very hard to photograph. A Grey Heron at last light taking a fish, I love the reflection in this. And this is an action shot of a Grey Heron taking a Pike for his supper. A Crested Grebe enjoying the sunshine and having a scratch. A Little Egret shaking like a labrador, so cute!And last but by no means least a Common Sandpiper, which are normally too far away to photograph properly, so I was very lucky when it landed on a much nearer island.