The air was filled with birdsong on my arrival at the park this morning. I first spotted the Robins and Chaffinches singing from the Hawthorn. Though it was the curious calls of bickering between a Magpie and a Crow which drew me to wander into the scrub by the car parks.
Here I was rewarded with a wonderful sighting of 5 Bullfinch in a Willow tree. All of them perched just high enough for their feathers to shine in the Sun’s light. Of course most impressive of all were the bright red chests of the two males in the group.
I ended up watching them for a quite a while, as they foraged around the uppermost branches of this single tree, pecking at the branches and eating insects for breakfast. They were joined momentarily by a Greenfinch and later a few Goldfinch as well.
A couple Great Tits sing from the adjacent Ash tree, and Blackbirds chirp from the vegetation below.
I decide to leave them to it, and my walk takes me into the woodland, where the low Sun casts long shadows behind the golden-lit tree trunks. Blackbirds, Wrens, and Squirrels appear at every corner, scavenging the ground. The squirrels scurry across the path and scamper up the trees, Wrens chirp and dart into the undergrowth, whilst Blackbirds ruffle amongst the leaf litter before hopping out of sight.
I wonder all the way down to Sunnydale where a couple of Sycamore have recently been felled maintain the open glade at the Aviaries.
The first flowers to enjoy this extra sunlight; a beautiful blossom of rose-pink flowers which adorn the winter-flowering Cherry. The first Snowdrops have bloomed, their pretty drooping white flowers standing just two inches above the ground. The Daffodils here are bit behind, but are on full display at the front of the Castle.