The fluff-balls

We were walking down the road. We had not seen anything yet but that was expected as we had just left the house. Then, a house sparrow flew out of the wooded area in the estate. Then, a wood pigeon also flew past. Our first sightings.

When we reached the end of the road, a magpie was flying by the houses. Its long tail extending in a typical magpie flight style. We crossed the road and then, something caught my eye. There was a dog like animal sat in the neighbouring field. I took out the binoculars and there sat a fox. I was amazed. A nocturnal animal out in broad daylight and in that heat! Just incredible. This was also my first ever fox which was absolutely fantastic. This place is always full of life.

We left him behind and on the hedge, little robin red-breast sat, singing his heart out. We started strolling through the field and there was a lone swallow flying off to the right. A herring gull flew to the left. We got to the ponds and there was not much there. There was a blackbird pecking over on the other side and a moorhen on a jetty. Apart from that, nothing else.

We decided to cross the little stream and go to a different set of ponds that lay ahead. We strolled calmly through the serene woodland to reach them. We took the left path around the ponds and went to the clearing to check on our moorhen nest. Sure enough, there was an adult with a single chick.

We carried on and found a female mallard sat on the sunken jetty. The bird became quite amusing and allowed close-up views before jumping into the water. We carried on round and found a blue tit hopping around in the trees. There were plenty of dragonflies around but these definitely did not allow close-up views according to the absence of a photo below.

We carried on and did not get any more views of the moorhens so we decided to go back to the clearing where we saw the first ones. This time, there were 3 chicks! Just hopping along the lily pads, following their mother. They were just like little fluff-balls.

When I came home, there was a collared dove sat on top of the bird table and a great spotted woodpecker was climbing up the stand. Also, a blackbird was feeding its fledgeling, trying to show him where the food was and how to get it.