Bluebells

 

 

 

Visiting a bluebell wood is such a delight for the senses.
The colour of bluebells en mass is stunning especially contrasting with the spring green leaves of the beech trees and the unfurling bracken.
Up close you can see stripes of purple and pale blue.
The boys enjoy spotting the occasional white ones in amongst the blue.
The intoxicating scent of bluebells as you walk through them makes the effort of visiting them so worthwhile, I just love it.
We even found the home of Mr Fox, I suspect of the fox we saw in the snow a while back. Fantastic that he's settled here.
Littlest and I enjoyed a quiet few minutes sitting on a fallen tree listening to the melodic sound of blackcaps singing, a real sound of spring.
Beautiful.

Dawn Chorus walk

 

 

 

 

It was an early start for Son #2, Fred and I this morning as we went on our own Dawn Chorus Walk. Today was International Dawn Chorus Day as it's the best time of year to hear song birds at their best.
Fred had never got up so early before, so it was quite an adventure setting off in the dark, with bats flying around. A few birds such as blackbirds and wrens had already begun their warblings and it wasn't long before the Dawn Chorus reached it's crescendo.
Unfortunately it was rather cloudy so sunrise wasn't quite the spectacle we'd hoped for, but it was still magical.
Our walk took us along country lanes and over fields to the summit of a local hill, Y Golfa, where we caught sight of a fox which was exciting.
We had a much needed rest at the top and enjoyed some hot chocolate and coissants, to the sound of skylarks.
From there we decended into a beautiful valley of fields, woodland and dingles.
As daylight grew and the birdsong died down, wild flowers caught our attention. Wood Anemone, Ground Ivy, Bush Vetch and new to me, Evergreen Alkanet. The verges was abundant with Primrose, Violet and Forget-me-not.
I think we walked a good 8 miles and I was very proud of Fred for physically achieving such a long trek, (though he did take his bike which helped) but also his great enthusiasm and interest in everything we experienced.
He wants to do it again next weekend!

A Snow Day.

The long awaited 'Snow Day' didn't disappoint. After half an hour of wrapping the boys up in as many layers as possible, we trudged outside.

It wasn't quite sledging snow, so we had a playful walk around the field.

Son #2 decided to spend most the time rolling around in the snow and practicing his 'Bear Grylls moves'.

I love how snow highlights little details that you normally don't notice as the eye searches for something to rest on.

On the far side of the field we caught sight of a Fox. This was the first time I'd seen one here, so it was rather exciting. The colour of it's coat and it's long bushy tail really stood out against the snow. On seeing us it returned to the cover of the trees. I felt a little bad for interrupting its search for food. Hopefully it found some, which wasn't our neighbours chickens.

Since I was a child, I have loved seeing bird prints in the snow.

Then it was time to go back indoors and have some hot chocolate.

I began to experiment today with some of the manual settings on my camera. This article by Capturing Childhood is very helpful for taking snow pics. I have learnt so much.

I hope you have enjoyed some snow today.