A Familiar Song

Today I decided on a local walk. Wanting to travel light I just took a Fuji superzoom camera as the wood I was heading to is popular with dog walkers and I did not think I would get much chance to photograph wildlife.

Entering the wood I took a relatively new path.

The wood has been heavily managed recently with the removal of many trees and the creation of more paths.

A Long-tailed tit entertained me for a while with its acrobatic antics.

I love the sounds in woodland especially in spring and was listening to the birds when it slowly dawned on me that one song that becomes very familiar over the course of the summer was present today but had been missing over the winter months. It was the song of the Chiffchaff - the first I have heard this year. My attempts to locate it and get a photo ended in disappointment when a dog walker appeared behind me and the bird decided to move on.

Walking out of the wood a Grey squirrel ran along the path.

I walked along the edge of the wood and saw 3 Roe deer. They had probably been disturbed by somebody on the main path but they soon saw me.

I managed a quick grab shot before they faded into the wood.

I chose not to disturb them anymore and walked back through the wood away from the direction they had gone and joined the main path where I saw this Comma butterfly.

Continuing along the path I worked my way back to the main entrance.

Although there was a fairly strong breeze it was a wonderful day with lots of sunshine and a beautiful blue sky.

I watched this Pied wagtail for a short while before returning home.