Bluebell weekend

Over the weekend I spent a lot of time in my local wood. The Bluebells are now in full bloom and the whole of the wood is covered in a carpet of purple.

I spent about an hour and a half watching this male Roe deer. At first it was quite wary of us and did a full circle around us. We found a tree stump to sit on and waited for it to come back.

Eventually we could hear branches snapping as he worked his way closer and closer, nibbling as he did so.

You can still see the remains of his grey winter coat as the red summer coat takes over.

While we were watching the deer a Marsh tit hopped from twig to twig amongst the Bluebells, suddenly dropping down collecting food. Once it had a mouthful it flew past us into the Blackthorn bushes, reappearing again a few moments later.

We also watched a bundle of around 8 baby Long-tailed tits all huddled together. The parents were very busy trying to feed them all.

On one of the ponds in the wood there were 4 Tufted ducks, two male and 2 female.

The crops are now growing tall enough for the hares to take cover in.

Sunday afternoon we took the dogs for a walk around a lake we had never visited before. It took us a while to work out what type of bird this was, but because it flew very close to the water and walked along the water edges bobbing, I think it is a Common Sandpiper.