spring here

April cannot decide if Spring is properly with us. One day the last shivers of Winter freeze the buds, the next day the sun caresses the opening leaves and warms the blood.

It would seem the winter has been kind to the Cetti's Warblers. All Around the Pits their livid outbursts signal their presence as never before. Almost every stretch of suitable habitat seems to support one of these invisible shouters.

The Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs have arrived in good numbers also, ensuring that the scrubby woodland is full of song.

At the water's edge the first Sedge Warblers have started tentative bursts of scrambled twittering, while overhead the Marsh harriers are well into the breeding season, males bringing in prey to the incubating females, whose plaintive cries can be heard emanating from the reedbeds.