Woodpeckers, Spring and Bridges

The woodland is looking amazing at the moment. The ground is green,

The buds are budding (including our fruit trees)

Flowers are ... flowering!

and the woodpecker is lovely. I spend ages watching this little fellow. Not easy to get decent photos because of all the twigs.

There are loads of pheasants around

and lots of butterflies.

Anyone know what this is?

While I was being quiet watching birds, Mike and some engineering students were being noisy, building a bridge in another part of the wood. More to come on this topic from Mike!

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Ever seen a duck chase a dog?

Our friend Carl took this video on their smallholding, where their duck (called Crispy) chases their dog (Jackson). Why Jackson doesn't eat Cripsy Duck I don't know, but it makes for hilarious viewing! Take a look:

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Spring 2012 is here!

The wild plum tree at the top of Sweep Wood is flowering, so Spring is definitely here!

Just next to it, Dog's Mercury is carpeting the ground:

Elder is also coming into leaf:

As is the Honeysuckle that's winding its way up the coppice regrowth:

Looks like we're in line for some more Foxgloves in the same area again this summer too:

Deeper inside the wood, Lords and Ladies plants are well advanced:

and Bluebells are making progress, though the flowers are some weeks away yet...

There are some flowers out already though, like this Primrose:

and the first few Wood Anemones are opening:

It's going to be interesting to see what happens to the bare patches where we had logs stored until last summer amongst the regrowth - they're going to be a year behind the rest of the area:

Likewise there's different stuff growing where we'd had small fires to burn up brash, thus sterilising small patches of ground. Moss has been the first to move in:

The trees are busy too, though no leaves yet. There's buds opening on the Willow in the Wayleave:

and the Hazel trees are covered with Catkins:

We found the remains of an egg (possibly from a Pigeon?), but I suspect it must be from months ago by the look of it.

Plenty of other bird activity though, with several Robins:

a Song Thrush, which is rare in our woods, though where we saw it was near gardens in Sweep Wood. They're actually on the RSPB Red List at the moment...

Best of all, we saw a Great Tit making a nest in a hollow in an old Cherry tree on a field boundary - we knew to look there, as one nested there last year too:

And finally, here's a nice video Tracy got near home in Rye, of a Little Egret:

That's all for now...

Mike

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Sussex Police dog trials 2012

Mike and I went along to the Sussex Police dog trials last weekend. It was superb! The dogs are amazing and so well trained. I guess the handlers are well trained too.

This is the beautiful Victor.





The part we enjoyed most (and I think the dogs did too!) Catch the Baddy. So funny hearing the police shout, 'Criminal, put the gun down!' I think this one is Apollo.



The dog wins!




Happy dog!




They did this jump with no run up. Brilliant!




...and Alvin ( I think!)



What a fab look of determination on his face!



Eagerly awaiting instructions...























I will not let go!



Lovely long jump.



Proud handler and dog, well done!



Here are some videos of the 'catch the baddy' game!

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It's all gone a bit quiet...

Sorry for the lack of posts! We've been doing a bit of track repair in the woods, to improve the areas that get muddy in the winter, which should help us and people walking through, but it's not really been interesting enough to write about... Work's been busy for us both too, and Tracy's joined the fire service as a volunteer so has been on various training courses.

However, Spring is on the way - there are bluebell shoots starting to appear in the woods, so very soon there should be some nice pics to show you...

Mike

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