![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Thanks David, fortunately there wasn't anyone around to see me get a booty, no one else was stupid enough to attempt the path I was on
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
February 2021
20th. The first day of proper springtime weather fell on my weekend off which is nice
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Most of the small birds had returned to the relative safety of the canopy so were more heard than seen today but a couple of Ring-necked Parakeets were feeling the Spring. Out on Conaught Water, which just 7 days ago was frozen over completely, a pair of Gooseander had finally arrived for the winter. Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk (or was it a Goshawk…?) drifted periodically overhead and there was just a small flock of Redwing seen today. I was surprised to see a Muntjac Deer out in the open but to be fair, he wasn’t too happy about the situation himself. There were lots of dog walkers out today and in his desperation to find some cover he ran across the path a few feet in front of me, his hindquarters failing when he hit the main path and nearly going head over heels, to find some bramble to hide in. Here he is mid-flight as he came hurtling towards me! Half an hour later Spring officially arrived, a male Brimstone fluttering incessantly around, already investigating anything pale. He never landed even when cloud obscured the sun but it really didn’t matter, plenty of time for the closeups, for now I was just happy to see him
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
On the 21st I risked an afternoon on Walthamstow Marshes, risked because it’s become rather busy since the start of the pandemic at the weekends. The sun did come out in spits and spots later in the afternoon but I feel it was to little to late this early in the season to tempt out a butterfly from it’s slumber.
As I said the place has become a lot busier of late and the paths have taken a real beating with all the extra foot fall. They became well worn during the summer and now with many people thinking they can walk in the countryside in their favourite white trainers, the paths are getting widened too. It's the Lammas meadows and lowland floodplains that make my local patch a SSSI. Not a great deal to see at the moment on the marshes themselves apart from some gulls enjoying the flooded areas. Out on the horse paddocks there was the usual suspects of finches and pigeons, haven’t seen a Stock Dove here for a while though. At the waterworks nature reserve I had a close encounter with a pair of Grey Wagtails and a few of the wintering ducks have returned now it’s all defrosted again but not much else was around, there seemed to be more people than birds here today. Some pictures of the waterworks for Benjamin to reminisce over
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)