Some signs of spring today :-
1) We have siskins in our garden! I wrote a piece about the fact that we hadn't had them as winter visitors (unlike last year), but I'd forgotten the fact that we had nesting siskins somewhere close by last summer. Today a pair appeared which I hope will settle in and produce young siskins to fill our garden with acrobatic delights like they did last year.
2) The bullfinches are doing what comes very naturally to bullfinches - attacking the buds of our early flowering cherry, which are just about ready to open. We don't mind; they won't take them all (we hope).
3) We called in at Llyn Coed y Dinas nature reserve this afternoon, and found the black-headed gulls gearing up for the new nesting season: very noisy and great fun. Also seen: three or four pairs of teal, mallard and tufted duck of course, a few snipe on the banks, two pairs of shovelers, and maybe around thirteen widgeon. Two oystercatchers seemed to be prospecting nesting sites. A male reed bunting showed just in front of the hide. A male goosander swept in but decided not to land and headed off to the river instead.
4) Elsewhere on the reserve we saw two chiffchaffs, my first of the season. I love when the chiffchaffs are back!
5) Song thrush and blackbird singing very lustily when we got back home.
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