Spring Is In The Air ...

I finally got to a nature reserve today!

I went down to Forest Farm, on the outskirts of Cardiff. It was a glorious afternoon, and after a slow start, there was plenty to see. I did have one of those birders "why does it happen to me?" moments. I had been sat in the "hide that has no doors" for an hour with two other guys. I wasn't really on the look out for anything special, hope always springs eternally that the Kingfisher will land on its perch, not today (or the last time, or the time before that, you get the idea). We then found out that the Bittern was showing up in the other hide, the one you rarely see anything from anymore. I had stopped by there for ten minutes, and decided to try my luck elsewhere. I'm afraid I am one of those people who continually get told, you should have been here ten minutes ago ....

After moving on, things picked up. The tree tops were alive with sounds of Great Tits calling, Wrens singing, Robins trying to cadge food off me, and inquisitive Blue Tits following my every move. Every so often you would hear a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming from some unseen location in the woods. It was quite uplifting.

I got some of my best photo out of the new camera since I bought it. In the end I asked Bevosity to chose the blip from the titles of the pictures.

This one reminds me of my leaping fox at Newport Wetlands one.

All the rejected ones have just been put in a Forest Farm Flickr set. Enjoy!