‘A quickening of the blood’...
This is what spring causes. There’s nothing like spring to make me feel I’m still a part of the animal world.
The likelihood is if you’re reading this you’re already an outdoorsy person, so you probably have first-hand experience of a cold winter wind blowing through you. I feel the same way about spring breezes and sunshine. It gets inside you in the same way as the cold, but unlike winter, spring wakes us up for the busy seasons ahead.
The wildlife on the reserve certainly seems to have the same feeling. Lapwing are displaying in earnest, coots are building nests outside the Visitors’ Centre and hares can be seen boxing on the grassland.
Image by Neil Smith
Sightings this week include:
50 + lapwing (displaying)29 x avocet2 x kestrel2 x hare (boxing)1 x short-eared owl1 x barn owl1 x water rail ( a reserve first!)1 x grass snake