Welcome to my world.

Today was one of those windy days that keep all the birds nestled nicely in the sheltered places and woods. As such this meant that my morning survey promised to be low on the bird count given that there is little woodlands that I pass through. So today I decided I would take some photos and introduce you to some of my patch.

My patch starts by the old mill and today there was a 1st year juvenile swan, some mallard and a moorhen.

Just from here a second bridge and a yew lined avenue lead me to the farmland.

My usual route then follows the backwater towards the ruin of Guys Cliffe.

 The old house is now home to Jackdaws and a small colony of Feral Pigeons. Past the house I hug the bankside which is lined with Willow and Alder. Over the years the Alder have decayed and fallen. Many of these old trees were nesting sites for Jackdaws and Woodpeckers and summer perches for young Swallows.

This year there has been a good showing of snowdrops on the far bank. They will be replaced in the next few weeks by a show of daffodils.

Along the river here you can see the rock faces that makes the site a Geological SSSI. In the storms of 2013 the trees broke away from the cliff and fell into the river revealing more of the rock and how the roots had sought out the narrow nooks and crannies

Where the river bends back I leave the river and walk back along the field past the Little Owl Tree. This was a row of three trees that always seemed to have a Little Owl in. Two of the trees were just stumps and probably roost sites, but these rotted away to nothing leaving just the single mature tree.

Next I move on to the patch of land I manage, here the water is still covering the land and leaving thick mud. Again I saw the snipe.

I checked my camera and then put out some bird food on the table attracting the Robin, Great Tits and Blue Tits. I spent sometime last week clearing this area.