Three places in two days

Dry Sandford nature reserve is one of my favourite places, because it is so quiet and I thought i saw a Water vole here once.

We popped in yesterday to go and see if we could find any.

 Searching up and down the gentle flowing stream where the Water voles are seen (according to the board), it was so over grown there was little chance of seeing any Water voles.

There were plenty of other things to see such as Frogs, Dragonflies, Butterflies, Nuthatches, and Long tailed tits hopping in and out of the branches.  

Two Horses started to follow us around the nature reserve, they kept on head butting us in the back of our heads. It was quite funny being accompanied but it was not very helpful because they kept disturbing the wildlife.   

The lake where my sister goes sailing is full of young Great Crested Grebes and other baby birds such as Coots and Black-back Gulls.
You could tell when an adult Grebe had caught a fish as the young Grebe unsteadily spalshed its way to the adult making loud squeaks.
 Occassionally the youngesters would  clumsily dive down with the adult, but I never saw them catch anything.
It was interesting to watch how the adult turned the fish around in its beak before it fed it to the young.
My photos are a bit fuzzy as it was getting quite dark.
As well as Great Crested Grebes we also saw a Kingfisher speeding across the lake but it was too fast for me. This was the first time I have seen a Kingfisher on this lake.

Common Toadflax

Buzzard

The badgers, at my local sett, have been busy this week cleaning out their setts as fresh earth and piles of hay lay at the entrances.
Here is a very short film of 2 badgers feeding from Wednesday evening.