1st April: Farmyard Birding

Back to cold and overcast weather today, though as I write, the skies are blue and theres a stunning sunset, so hopefully tomorrow will be nice!

After a fairly quick visit to the reserves this morning (where I missed an Osprey flying over Shapwick while I was at Ham Wall, Bah!), I had a little wander around a good looking bit of farmland between my village and the marshes. I was delighted to find two male Wheatears hopping around a dung heap, where they seemed to be finding a bit of grub to recuperate from their trip up from Africa. This is the first time i've had good views of this dapper species this year, it's always a pleasure to welcome them back.

Wheatear

In the farmyard itself were a pair of Little Owls, which hopefully will be nesting nearby, i'll be keeping an eye on them over the next month or so.

Little Owl hunting for worms

Walking down a path alongside some peat workings, I rounded a corner to see a Mink sitting on the path right in front of me. I was expecting it to bolt quickly into the adjacent reed bed, but instead it put on a very belligerent air and gave me a good staring competition before turning and trotting off down the path, grumbling away to itself, presumably about the inconvenience of having its path blocked by me.

Angry Mink