What a walk!

Day off... not raining...WHOOP WHOOP!! Grey and a bit misty, but dry(ish) so wandered off to the Trailway as I decided the river walk would still be a bit of a quagmire after the recent flooding. As I said, it was a bit murky, so several of the pics have been lightened to reveal details. The very 1st tree at the start of the Trailway had something I didn't recognise in it.

All the way round I was racking my brain (didn't take long lol) wondering what it could be, until I saw it on the big screen, and came up with leucistic blackbird, bit odd as it was symmetrical on both sides of the cheek/throat

In the same area was the first of a number of Chaffinches

And a few yards further on, the first of a plethora of Robins

A little further along the sound of song burst forth, a number of different refrains, each quite short, but repeated and LOUD... the culprit, this Sonistle Thrush Grin

The first of a myriad of Redwings

And one a good few Goldfinch that charmed their way along the walk

There were loads of Dunnock, mostly pretending to be other birds by not hopping around on the floor, but by being in the hedges and trees, simply to confuse me! This one was the original Bird on a Wire!!

There were far more Redwing today than Saturday when I was with Mrs PB

A little further on, a Robin was belting out it's song, competing with the Thrushes, Blackbirds and Finches

The Fieldfares and Redwings seemed to have separated in to their own adjacent fields

Both fields were also attended by song or mistle thrushes (I can never tell them apart, even with the book!!)

I'd not noticed Dunnocks with this much stripyness on it's breast before

For the first time whilst out walking, I decided to put a few suet pellets and sunflower hearts down on a log to see if they would attract anything, and I retired to a convenient bench, probably 15 yards away. While I was waiting I spotted a heron trying to land on a gate next to a Magpie the other side of a field

I gave the "treats" 15 minutes, and although there were 3 robins and several tits flitting about, there were no takers whilst I was sat there. I was possibly impatient and/or too close!

Across a field the other side of the Trailway to the heron was is the river, and the 1st Little Egret I've seen there

I walked on to the bridge where I saw the Kingie last week, but not today, unfortunately, but A Great Tit showed nicely, if briefly

The Great North Dorset Cormorant Tree was back down to just one bloom

All of a sudden a flock of five egrets took to the air a fair distance away

I wondered what had spooked them, and it wasn't until I got home that I saw this image

And then thought....are they chasing the buzzard??!!

A blackbird cam and landed in a bush too close for max zoom

And then a (the) buzzard came closer to the Trailway and afforded me a half decent opportunity

The Fiedfares had been more reticent about having their pictures taken than the Redwings, but this one hung about until I got within a decent distance!

A silhouette flew across the field and subconsciously I thought, that's different.... and it was, a Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Another Chaffinch made himself known, and posed alluringly

And then this is where birds show their cruelty... something small and flitty caught my eye, every lift of the lens was too slow, and then something else small and flitty caught my eye, in the same tree, but a branch or two higher, flit, click, too slow, flit click-click-click, still too slow, flit... Got ya

Flit too slow....flit....

Flit

Flit

s the Goldcrest flitted away higher and to the far side of the tree, I spotted my first proper sign that spring is on its way

A sudden flurry of wingbeats caught my attention and a mixed Redwing and Starling flock erupted into the air

As I approached the end of the Trailway I was wondering if the unknown bird was still there, but in the tree before where I'd seen it earlier, Flit, flit.....

And yes, the unknown bird was still there!

Hope you enjoyed by ambling ramblings

Stay Safe All