A WELCOME VISITOR

We had never had a Goldfinch in the garden until today. What a little beauty and ringed too. I can't quite make out the numbers but I'm pretty sure it's a BTO one. It would be nice to find out where it was done but it won't be from these photos. I love the way it appears to be stamping its foot in the photo above.

The pair of Robins I caught with the male feeding the female are very active and definitely nesting nearby. Shall I?

 

Shall I?

Yes.........

The male Chaffinches' breeding colours are very apparent now. 

The Nuthatches are in and out of our nest box again this year and driving me mad with their Guinea Pig squeaking every morning at sunrise. 

This one couldn't decide whether it was on or off the perch as it systematically emptied the feeder onto the table:

Yesterday, when the weather wasn't so great, I was unconsciously scanning the ground as I avoided the horizontal rain from entering my eyes, and spotted this tiny toad; only about an inch long. Looks like some of that very early spawn I found has made it. 

It was misty over Fernworthy Forest as well as rainy:

Trigger got very wet but it's mild so it doesn't bother him:

Close up of his coat having dried after the rain:

The dogs have fun whatever the weather:

Today was a lot better, with sunshine creeping in this afternoon as we rushed out for a walk before I had to go to the school's Easter service. The light was amazing making the landscape look like a painting.

I noticed this strange lichen:

And felt the need to get closer again:

Fascinating, but not a very pretty sight which put me in mind of medieval things medical and very unsavoury.....

This bee was looking exhausted so I helped it off the path where it might have been trodden on.

There was some heat in the sun; enough to have the dogs panting:

Nothing tires Jack out though.

Why is he licking his lips here I wonder? A delicious morsel of fox poo perhaps? 

I seem to have lost a follower....I looked through the last post in a paranoid fashion, looking for something that might have caused offense, but I can't see anything. Oh well. That reminds me - has anyone had any problems joining other people's blogs because I certainly have. I keep getting a strange message telling me Blogger is having a problem at the moment. Perhaps it's picking up on my follower-loss-related stress. 

So until next time, I'll leave you with a picture of Snippet and Jack I've been trying to get for months and, as usual, it was a fluke. Have a lovely weekend all of you............minus one!