Some brief walks out into paint-free air and a little bit of deep thought in the office have produced some spring migrant birds pushing north: Sand Martin and Swallow trickling up the Exe, though the first ones only in the past week; with singing Chiffchaff and Blackcap at home making the woods next door sound a little warmer. I was also dragged out to do my second Willow Tit survey of the season, which again resulted in no birds found - though a Marsh Tit responded vigorously to the tape prompt! Bird of the day was in fact this rather handsome Common Toad (Bufo bufo), which I narrowly missed with my girt great feet.
For the birdy reader, our garden list already stands at some 30-odd species - best so far being a drake Mandarin high-tailing it up the river. At some point I'll get round to working out which plant species we have here as well, but the garden's pretty shabby and needs some work to be able to get round it sensibly.
