Paxton Signs of Spring

 Many birds are already paired up and nest building including Grey Herons and Cormorants at Paxton. Mostly the birds manage courtship in a dignified way even with long wings to keep free of the branches etc but the overenthusiastic Coot shows what can go wrong if you watch too much Winter Olympics or jet ski racing!

Destruction of Local Wildlife Habitats

It took me several days before I could do my 'daily' walk around the footpath in Toft that goes along the Mill Lane Drift down the side of the allotments and back along the stream into Toft Wood as I had heard the large machinery at work earlier and feared for the worst. 

We no longer have a stream - just a V-shaped deep drainage ditch and the Badgers and hedgerow birds (including Whitethroats, Dunnocks, Wrens and Blackbirds) have lost a valuable breeding habitat. 

Nuthatch Building Nest

The Europaean Nuthatch Sitta europaea, generally nests in holes on trees and reinforces just the entrance with mud. This pair were building a nest in the crevice in a wall, reminiscent of the Eastern Europaean Rock Nuthatch (Sitta neumayer) showing that the species have not diverged that far in nest-building habits. We watched it (?them) bring in mud and build a complete entrance to the nest area. Sometimes it disappeared into the nest as here and then elegantly hopped out and off for more materials. A wonderful harmonious setting for such an  elegant bird.

St Albans Herons

I have visited St Albans most years from 2012 to watch the Herons and friends busy courting, mating and building nests around the second week in March. After a very sparse year in 2023, this year is encouraging as we located 5 nests and maybe a couple of unpaired youngsters. The early light with low sunshine was ideal but it clouded over later so a different approach in processing at the end. My favourite is the second image - sheer 'Joie de Vivre' which is how they made me feel. The grumpy one giving the evil eye to the Coot is probably more representative of their behaviour.

Long-tailed Tits Nest Building

I spent an hour yesterday watching a pair of Long-tailed Tits building their nest in a bramble patch - impossible to get clear views but such a delight to see them bringing moss, lichen and cobwebs and weaving their nest. They are about halfway there as the final nest will be a complete ball with a single small entrance.

Herons Nest Building

We spent a very enjoyable hour or so watching Herons collecting nest materials.They were collecting both from the trees themselves - mainly willow - and from the ground and often seemed satisfied with even a quite small twig though they returned fairly quickly then to collect another!