Is It Spring ?

During the last few days the temperature has started to rise a little. 

Although there has been a lot of rain and the rivers are still high.

It does feel like Spring may have just about arrived. 

That said, my recent walk was a mixture of cold wind and threatening storms.

Below (The Red Admiral) is the first butterfly that I have been able to photograph this year.

I have in recent days observed several male Brimstone butterflies on the wing.

The Red Admiral is generally a migrant species that arrives from Europe in the Spring. 

There is evidence that some are now overwintering in UK, in the South Coast area.

This one could be either.

I photographed it pitched very high up on a Blackthorn tree where it was basking in the warm sun.

The Nuthatch nest that I featured last Spring has been visited frequenly by a pair of Nuthatch that could well be the same pair. Again some repairs to the hole in the tree will be necessary.

A rare sight was this Song Thrush searching for food along the waters edge.

A very uncooperative male Blackcap was singing away high up in a tree.

In fact this was the only sighting I got and the rest of the tme it remained in thick blackthorn branches.

Greater Stitchwort

This Chiffchaff was sun bathing and drying out after a shower and preening.

More Chiffchaff images.

The ever present Wren.

This Grey Squirrel was searching for food on the ground in a small woodland copse.

The pair of Long-tailed Tits that I have mentioned recently are still constructing their intricate nest.

A sight witnessed at this time is the Dunnock which sings away on a prominent perch.