Back to Reality!

A single Sand Martin was over the res. on Tuesday as I struggled with jet lag.
Today three Chiffchaff were calling in the spring sunshine.

Tigers Galore!

 Just back from a long awaited trip to bag Tiger in India. We visited Pench and Kanha reserves and both produced sightings. First was a radio collared female.

 Next her two year old son, chilling out on a sand bar.

 At Kanha a female was seen with four well grown cubs.

 What you looking at?

 The cubs were rather nervous out in the open.

 A big male greeted us as we rounded a bend.

 We had a 50% success rate with tigers seen on five out of ten game drives. We saw nine different individuals.

 We have Naturetreks Tiger Direct Trip to thank.

 The same male was seen cooling off in a small pond.

 Cool Cat!

Shelduck Drop In.

 A pair of Green Woodpeckers were below the dam.

 On the 13th four Shelduck dropped in to have a rest.

 A pair of Herring Gulls are looking all "Loved Up" at the outflow.

 We don't often have Herring Gulls hanging around at Thornton. Indicates a change in behaviour.

 A Water Rail was feeding in the outflow stream. There was also, what I presume is another bird at the top end yesterday.

Frog Frenzy!

 The first spawn I saw was on March 9th.

 The warm sunshine of  March 10th had good numbers of frogs spawning at the Stanton inflow end of the reservoir.

 "Darling, I thought we were stopping at 8750!"

Waiting to be kissed!

Church Farm Tern Raft- Looking Good!

 The final touches were made today to the Common Tern raft at Church Farm. The gravel was added and two ridge tiles to provide shelter.

 An excellent addition to encourage breeding birds to the site, that already has two Sand Martin walls.

 Colts Foot with an early Hover Fly sp. enjoying the warm sunshine.