Saturday 17th March 2012, a short wander in the valley.

I was rather busy on Saturday, a vegetable plot to prepare and potatoes to plant takes more than a few minutes and I ended up with just a couple of hours for a walk.

The sun was out though and I wandered eastwards out of Silsden to check the long tailed tit nest I discovered last week. The lanes are well lined with bushes and the birdsong was loud and very pleasant even if I could not see many of the singers!

A lovely chaffinch was the first successful shot of the day, lots of these around.

The rabbits that proliferate in the valley have been busy judging by the number of young ones about, this one was just visible through a fence.



The grey wagtails are back in numbers now, as are the tiny insects on which they feed, there seemed to a permanent cloud of pesky midges around me!

Moorhens seem to spend as much time out of the water as in it, they feed well in the fields and sometimes it is easy to neglect their splendid colours







I located the long tailed tit nest easily enough and found a place to sit and watch them flying back and forth with nest materials, some were gathered close to the nest others brought from further away judging by the gaps between their visits.



Time to head back to town now, the light was fading and we were going to some friends for a meal. Time was not too short for to stop and get a nice close up of a young swan feeding by the edge of the canal. Next week I aim to find at least one swan nesting site, Spring has arrived!