I had a stroll out to the reserve at dusk and here are a few of the residents I encountered out also for a stroll..

An interesting few new arrivals over the last couple of days on the reserve.

We have also heard our first migrants, Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, and Blackcap.

Also walk in the woods disturbed a female Mallard which was sitting on 10 eggs.

The new badger set on site is certainly livened up recently!

A few more pics of the birds seen on site, taken since the last feathered friends post, over about 6 weeks.

Charles and Camilla have cemented their relationship by doing what swans do at this time of the year, start the family process.

Mute swans have a practiced routine they go through before mating. It is called mirroring and can go on for 10 to 15 minutes. They basically copy each others actions. Here are some examples seen today.

Then once they have gone through their routine they mate, this is very quick process, probably lasting less than 30 seconds.

Once this is finished they then have a very sweet little routing where they bump chests, sing a little song to each other, and have the equivalent of a little cuddle together.

They will go through this routine every day for 7-10 days and then turn to nest building, egg laying and ultimately a family (we hope). You can see below they have already started the nest.

In the sun yesterday I had quite a few butterfly sightings, which was nice to see. Our Peacock butterflies have been around for about a week:-

Yesterday I saw some of our Small Tortoiseshells for the first time:-

Spring is definitely well on its way, hurrah!

Joan and Brian Kirkpatrick kindly donated a couple of crab apple trees and asked me to find a place for them.

I had just the place for them and with Joan’s help we planted them a few days ago.

I decided it would be worth making a little feature, so with the help of Charlie and Augustine ( a couple of my younger volunteers) we set to work.

Maybe a little planting round the border to finish things off but I’m happy. I hope Joan and Brian are too, they haven’t been shown yet!

My thanks to the person who kindly left a gift at the entrance of the reserve.

A crocheted Worry Worm, I didn’t know these were a thing!

Hopefully my worries are now sorted😁