Out with the birders again

Yes, this morning I couldn't resist swinging by the sparrowhawks nest again.  For most of the time there were only 3 others watching - quiet, kind and deeply knowledgeable people it was a pleasure to be with.

In this shot and the two Extras the male is bouncing about and tearing off twigs to take back to the nest.  At one point he dropped one, swooped down to scoop it up in mid-air and shot over my head with no more that 20cms to spare.  A weird experience ;))

I'm thinking I may also go back tomorrow.  I don't mean to bore you all to death with this little family, but I would love to get a decent shot of the female.  She is larger than the male - and let's face it, not so pretty - but I would love her in my journal all them same.  And a shot of one of them flying would be the creme de la creme, though in the 5 metres or so available between the twiggy alder and the scrub all I've proved so far is that my reactions are a bit slow!

Never mind, as soon as the leaves are fully out it will be game over.  If you look very carefully on these you can see the green starting to unfold already.  Then the sparrowhawks and their nest will be invisible.

Not much else to say.  After this I walked on into town and caught a bus up to the garden centre.  It's K's birthday on Friday and I had an extra present to buy ;))

Enjoy the rest of your day  xx