A pheasant day.

I suppose I can count this as part of my dog walk. I have to walk through my front garden to start the walk after all.

This pheasant has decided to stay in my garden for a few days. He is hiding in the bushes and coming out to feed on the seed that drops below the bird-feeders.

It's a bit surprising when he starts calling during the night though.

Birds and Maudlin Lane

Keeping up with the easy ones! A young herring gull and a wood pigeon gave me a bit of practice on this walk.

I noticed a spring snowflake standing brightly in Maudlin Lane with a small patch of lungwort just nearby. (Shown right)

The white (with a touch of purple) violets shown below were forming quite a large patch on the grass verge at the end of Goring Road.

Marching on!

The year is marching on. It feels like summer on the walks this week but the pictures still look like winter. This is part of the area we walk around between Foxhall Farm and the Adur.

The wild plums are out in flower. They come before the wild cherries.  I didn't know this last year. But I collected plums and cherries from these trees in July so now I know which they are even before the leaves open.

The primroses are another sign that spring is well under way.












I decided that this year I should try to capture some bird pictures - so here is the first. Lets start with the common ones! A sparrow. It's not a brilliant picture but it's a start.

It's spring again!

The first picture of the year was taken on leap year day - February 29th. It was a lovely day, definitely feeling of spring so Petra and I had a longer walk than usual.


Some pretty groups of snowdrops were in flower in a wooded area on the path of the old railway line.


I didn't see any wild snowdrops last year. I saw a spring snowflake at the end of March. Comparing the two, the differences are very clear to me now.