Took a walk from the old priory lake, along the stream to the old quarry. Excellent, the sun gracing the day with his presence. Abundance of butterflies, mainly common whites, but a sprinkling of orange tips and browns made an appearance, oh, and one red admiral. Terrible racket in the trees, a magpie getting excited at the antics of a couple of beautiful male jays fighting and squawking over a female, Ah, the joys of spring :-) The blackbirds, song thrushes, robins, wrens, oh, and of course, the ubiquitous sparrows, got on with business as usual. No Damsels, dragons or kingfishers about yet, nor frogs or newts, but there are some healthy broods of mallard with their chicks, swimming franticaly about the lake to escape the attentions of bullying coots and Canada geese. Crossed the stream over an old concrete bridge and into the bluebell woods, apt name from the great swathes of scented bluebells stretching from tree to tree. English ones, so far the flowers in this wood have been spared the ravages of hybridization. Must remember to load the camera with colour film the next time I go there, certainly before the flowers go over.  © Mick Saunders 2007

© Mick Saunders 2007