Lockdown Walk - Extended

During this Lockdown walk I went further into my Summer Country walk.

I was able to get close to this Little Egret as it was fishing in a small tributary to the local river. This involved poking my lens through a hedgerow.

Male Dunnocks are now singing loud and clear from open perches, a sign of Spring to come.

More agricultural activity. 

This involved sowing wheat seed with a drag harrow and seed sower.

The Gulls may be thinning out the seed somewhat.

I am still not able to get close to Grey Wagtail this year as yet.

I have certainly observed quite a few already, but nothing close.

Even the Bullfinch are not being that helpful and only briefly showing.

You can hide Mrs Stonechat, but I have already photographed you the other day.

On a good note, the Yellowhammers are getting closer.

The Cock Pheasant didn't hang around for long though.

 

Lockdown Walk - Milestone

Milestones

The Romans first introduced road distance markers in England.

Distance markers constructed of stone (Milestones) became common in the 18th Century.  Many were removed prior to the World War II to confuse the in German military if there was an invasion, but there are thought to be around 9000 still in existence.

Ploughing in the mist

Walking along a farm track I could observe Yellowhammers in the hedgerow. The birds were flying down onto the field and eating the loose barley grain left over from harvesting. Unfortunately as is often the case, I was only carrying a medium lens and could only get average images heavily cropped.

I returned to this track the following day with a long lens. 

Sods Law dictates that the field had in the meantime been ploughed up and the grain and the birds were missing. Such is the life of a Nature Photographer or someone like me that shoots a few images with a camera. 

The Chiffchaff below recently reported is still hanging out by the river bridge and appears to be feeding very well on insects now,

Briefly joined on the occasion of my visit by a fleeting Goldcrest. 

Treecreepers are busy along the walk.

The male Chaffinch is now looking fine in his Spring courting plumage.

LTT the Homemaker

On my normal Lockdown Walk I have observed a pair of Long-tailed Tits building a nest. They have to my knowledge been spending the last five days building and the nest is not complete yet.

If you have never seen a LTT's nest it is a complete work of art.

It is bottle shaped with a dome roof with a small entrance hole.

It consists of moss and feathers interwoven into upright branches of a bush. 

The whole structure is camouflaged with a cover of lichen. 

It can take three weeks to complete.

The image below shows moss in the birds beak.

Below the bird has just plucked moss from a lateral branch.

Below you can just see the lichen in the birds beak.