Spring beyond the garden gate

Now the lockdown restrictions are easing a bit, our first trip out beyond the lanes around our house for two and half months felt slightly surreal. We visited our local RSPB nature reserve, which we last visited a few days before the start of lockdown, and it was a bit like waking up from a very long sleep and finding you were in a completely different season. Last time we were there the spring flower Coltsfoot was flowering. Now, there were summer flowers like Buttercups, Common Knapweed and Tufted Vetch and the reeds were turning green with new growth. The summer migrants had long since returned and the breeding season was already well advanced.

Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca)

Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

We had missed most of the spring frenzy, but were pleased to still find plenty of breeding season activity. We were greeted almost immediately by a Sedge Warbler singing his heart out to proclaim his territory. All along the paths and the ditches the reeds were alive with their songs, along with those of the Reed Warblers.

One of the iconic sounds of spring is the singing of the Skylark, and there's always several around on the reserve. They are often singing so high up that they're just little dots in the sky, if you can even see them at all. We spotted this one on the ground feeding and occasionally fighting with another Skylark (which would have been a great photo, if I had just been quick enough!).

Spring, of course, means chicks, and there were plenty around. Coot chicks aren't exactly pretty, with the sort of face only a mother could love, but I guess they're kinda cute in their own way!

Avocet chicks, on the other hand, are cute and fluffy. Like other wader chicks, Avocet chicks can leave the nest and feed themselves after a few hours of hatching, although they are still dependent on the parents for protection. They are vulnerable to predation and poor weather conditions.

The parent birds have a few strategies to discourage and distract potential predators. This one was taking his job particularly seriously and seemed to be doing the job of the neighbouring pair too, who just stood with their chicks and watched us as we walked by (on the footpath, well away from the chicks, I hasten to add).

The adults will fly around the potential predator (or us in this case!) making quite a din and try and lure the predator away by distracting it. They will also pretend to be injured, like the bird on the right, to make the predator think they are easy prey and concentrate on them instead of the chicks.

The Lapwings were doing the same.

There seemed to be a lot more of this behaviour than I have noticed in previous years and I wonder whether it's because they started breeding during lockdown when there were almost no people around. Now we're back, they are less used to us and therefore more sensitive to our presence this year. I guess some may even have nested closer to paths than they would have done in previous years, as they would not have been put off by the continual presence of people.

Even the Redshank was having a go!

Other birds I love to see at this time of year are the Terns. This one is a Common Tern. Very "pointy" birds!

Of course, with the lovely sunny, warm weather, there were plenty of insects about too:

Common Blue Damselfly - such a vibrant blue.

A female Common Blue butterfly

This fabulous beetle, with equally fabulous common names - the Thick-legged Flower Beetle, or the Swollen-thighed Beetle (for obvious reasons), was sunning itself on an Ox-eye Daisy.

Large Skipper butterfly

Just before we headed back to the car, we spotted this rather wonderful sight. Not a great photo, but you can see what it is - a Spoonbill! Always great to see, they have become more common around here, and particularly on the North Norfolk coast, in recent years. In 2010 six pairs bred in Norfolk, and this was the first time that more than one pair had bred in the UK for more than 300 years.

Great Crested Grebe, looking beautiful, if a little punky, after a successful dive for a fish.