A Bonanza of butterflies today!

Tortoiseshell

Green veined White

Comma

Small White

Red Admiral

Meadow Brown

A stroll along the back of the meadow...

I spy a Whitethroat using the cover of tall plants...

and pretty small flowers by the wayside...

A coot chick begging for food...

Cygnets peeping through the reeds, now 3 days old...

a Greylag goose coming in to land...

and a common Wood Pigeon looking stunning sitting in the blossom ...

New born Cygnets lining up for their first photo shoot...

Goose grass!!! (groan)

A handsome Linnet, sunbathing on the scrub at the back of the meadow...

A Common Whitethroat shaking off the water after a bath!!...

and a male Gadwell on the scrape...

New offspring from one of the many Coot families on Avon Meadows this year ...

A house martin diving in the breeze between the showers today...

Today in the sunshine and showers.... a Greylag goose ....

a Blackcap singing from the tree tops....

and one of the newly arrived Sedge warblers filling the reed beds with that scratchy singing...

The summer visitors are arriving down on the meadows...   here is a Reed Warbler peeping through the reeds...

and a splash of colour from these Marigolds...

The Hawthorn blossom is looking beautiful today and is being enjoyed by a Willow Warbler ...

and a Comma butterfly too...

An early batch of ducklings on the main pool this morning...

Lots of flooding on the meadows today but in the reeds... a goldfinch...

and a wren...

Three blackheads gulls ... "who is going to be first to jump?"....

With the harsh weather past, a pair of Blue tits waste no time getting down to nest building in an old tree... this beakful of moss looks very cosy...

and a Buzzard takes a rest on the goal posts...

Frolicking frogs partying down at the pool today...

With the river running high, a tribe of  3 male and 2 female Tufted ducks have taken to the main pool today  for a quiet bit of feeding - here is one of the males...

The Stonechats seem to be enjoying the slowly filling reed beds as they bring treasures to light!  This male is watching closely from his perch...

Coot on ice... being watched by some Black headed gulls...

Many are sheltering as the Easterly wind whips up the powdery snow across the meadow....

but closer to the ground there is activity as a Water rail investigates a resting Lapwing...

the Lapwing carries on resting ....

while the Water rail finds a meal under some logs...

and a pair of Moorhens scratch at the edge of the path...

Brrr... as a cold easterly wind blows across the meadow today, an alarmed Snipe rises from the cover of some scrub....

and an unlikely pair of geese fly over the scrape together - a Greylag goose and a Canada goose...

A Lesser Redpoll seen today on grasses at the back of the main pool ....

Today there are some warm spots out of the wind making it feel almost like Spring and robins and Dunnocks are flirting in the hedgerows while male Reed Buntings are shouting from the high points to mark their territories .

Meanwhile, in the shelter of a ditch, this Water rail creeps quietly along, feeding in the muddy margins...

while above a female Chaffinch suns herself...

A male Bullfinch looking very handsome in the sunshine today...

Another cold morning, but it didn't stop this pair of chaffinches (male above, female below) from having an icy dip in the ditch before sprucing themselves up sitting in the sun on the back hedge...