Chasing buntings

On my last dog walk I was captivated by butterflies.
Today it was the birds that thrilled. My first chiffchaff of this spring, and not just one, but three !!!!

Then I had this heron fly past, not sure what it had in it's beak

And for the last part of my walk I had this pair of reed buntings flitting about amongst the grass and the hedge.

I must have followed them for about quarter of an hour, the dog was very good and kept waiting to allow me to take photo's but I still never managed to get quite close enough.

Chasing butterflies

Having seen three butterflies flying around my garden yesterday I chose to go on a butterfly hunt on the common, with the hope that I might be able to photograph some.
Some hope - first find your butterflies!

Well I did manage to find my daughters mirror brush which she lost last week, we had given up hope of ever finding it, but today there it was just lying there in the middle of all this. Whether she will ever use it again is debatable but at least we know it isn't lying on the common anymore.
And, then, at the sheltered end of the common, not only were there some butterflies dancing about, but some actually stayed still long enough for me to photograph.

                                                                     Small Tortoiseshell.

                                                                           Peacock

and I also spooked a couple of snipe too,- not sure who jumped more them or me

A host of golden Daffodils

It has been several years since I last visited George Hayes reserve and as it is a Saturday in the middle of March and the sun was shining we made the decision to pay it a visit.
Georges Hayes is a Staffordshire Wildlife Trust reserve   It is home to an ancient woodland but more importantly for me today, it also has the largest colony of native daffodils in Staffordshire.
When we arrived at the reserve a large bumble bee flew past, the first one I've seen this year, so a great start! then we were confronted by a large amount of litter scattered about the car parking area, so our first job, (which we really didn't have time to do because the rugby was on TV all afternoon, which apparently we needed to get back for!) was to collect up all the litter up into a bag. House keeping done we walked into the woodland.

 The ground was covered in wild garlic leaves and a hint of their heady aroma hit us in waves,

There was also the evidence of the beautiful delights that will await the visitors later in the spring with bluebell leaves all around us too.

The path was also dotted with celandine, and the sound of the woodpeckers drumming along with the calls of the numerous small woodland birds made us very aware that spring is in full swing.

Then there they were in all their glory,' I wandered lonely as a cloud'  can't fail to jump into ones mind at this time.

Daffodils happen to be one of my favourite flowers!

I could have sat amongst them all day!

.... but alas! I couldn't as the rugby was on TV all afternoon and apparently we needed to get back for it!!!!