A glorious walk through the woodland, with sunlight catching the bright green leaves of the Horse Chestnut, which are now emerging out of the sticky buds. At one of the viewpoints the slightly sickly sweet smell of Poplar caught the nose as I watched a Shag bobbing gently on the flat calm water.
The sound of a Wren, as it blasted its song loudly through the air, it never ceases to surprise me how such a small bird can make such a loud noise.
A flock of Long-tailed Tits were hanging and flitting through the evergreen leaves of the Japanese Spindle, before moving to one of the huge London Plane trees.
The sound of a Green Woodpecker was an regular accompaniment to my walk, the loud yaffle ringing through the trees.
A bright yellow splash of Daffodils contrasted with the paler lemon of the Primroses, while the lilac Greater Periwinkle and the white of the earliest of Three-Cornered Leek flowers added to the colour palette, capped off by the pink of Honesty.
House Sparrows chirped from the hedgerows, the leaves and blossom coming out changing the dull brown to vibrant greens and off whites.
From all around Great Tits could be heard, practising a variety of their calls and songs (they don’t just have the one, but over 80 different ones!!)
The meadows alive with Skylarks, 3 spotted on the ground another 3 in flight, while landing on an old Yarrow stem was a Goldfinch, flashing its red, gold and white feathers.
As I mended a corner of a dry-stone wall, a couple of snails were clinging to the stone, one the Brown-lipped Snail, the other the Wall Snail, which is quite flattened with a very distinctive ridge around it – a bit like a flying saucer.