A long walk in the warm sun for a change

The afternoon was just fabulous so I set off in shirt sleeves for a walk to Langfield and Gaddings to check for returning Wheatear and Twite. The sun was warming but I held off donning my shorts for now - you can't be too careful!

The walk up to Langfield was made more interesting by having to negotiate snow drifts. A strange mixture of warm sun, dry paths and snow.

There were a few Meadow Pipits around but nowhere near as many as there should be at this time of year, but things are looking up now so numbers should soon increase. I spent a fair long time looking along Langfield and through Jail Hole for Wheatear and Twite, but although there were no Wheatear I did find 2 Twite so one out of two ain't bad.

Up at Gaddings Dam there were hardly any birds, just 2 Skylarks singing and a few Mipits.

As I walked around it was hard not to notice that the frogs have started spawning at last and the hills were alive with the sound of....croaking.

On the way home I stopped in at Lee Dam and the 3 Mallards and f. Goosander were there as per yesterday, along with 2 Canada Geese. As I was watching, the Goosander was joined by 2 Pied Wagtails that started bathing at the water's edge, and after a minute or so these were joined by a Grey Wagtail.

A minute or so passed and the Wagtails were scared off by 4 Teal landing in the water a few yards off shore.

I found it amusing that the Goosander never moved and just put its head back under its wing and carried on dozing.

Passing by the local farmer's fields it was good to see the sheep and lambs out where they belonged again rather than being cooped up in the barns through the snow and cold weather.

 

As there were no Wheatear at Langfield I carried on over to Swillington and Rough Head to check there as that's been a good site for early Wheatear in past years, but nothing doing yet. Never mind, things are warming up nicely and it's only a matter of time before they return.