Sorry we were out?

At last the grip of winter seems to be giving way to spring. The frost and light covering of snow that night-time brought soon disappeared as the sun climbed into a cloudless blue sky. The regular garden visitors were very active this morning with the Starlings arriving to take first pickings at the bird table. Tree and House Sparrows, Blue and Great tits together with Chaffinches waited for their turn.

A day for a walk in the countryside, I thought but I had to wait in for my new mac memory to arrive by Special Delivery. Sadly it didn't arrive before the 1pm deadline that I had paid for and after a long phone call with a voicemail system that eventually led to a human voice, no time could be promised. Not wanting to waste this excellent weather Mrs Wolds-End and I set off for one of our local walking/wildlife watching spots.

Wildlife was rather absent during the early part of the walk - perhaps disturbed by the dog walkers who had proceeded us. Still it was a wonderful day and there were a few Lapwing in the fields, filling the air with their calls and the bright blue of a Kingfisher speeding past. On recent visits there had been lots of Fieldfare but this time only a few were seen in the trees. A dog walker stopped and scanned the fields with his binoculars and a Great tit called out it's warning call.

It was still quite light as we set off back and a brief glimpse of white on the far side of a field put me on a look out for a Barn owl. Just as I was giving up hope one appeared and we spent a while watching it in the distance until it disappeared over a hedge. My attention was drawn to some activity elsewhere and the Barn owl suddenly appeared a few yards away. I managed only one photo before trees obscured our view but we waited and it returned. I got a few more photos in what was now early evening light.

On arriving home there was one of those Royal Mail "Sorry, you were out" cards waiting for us. Were we sorry we had been out?  No way!