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It is always nice when you can spend at least some of your day at work doing what you love best, even better when it means you can leave the computer and the office behind and head out into glorious sunshine and count butterflies! Yesterday I did just that. We are doing a butterfly transect on the...

Something of a deluge of spring migrants over the last 3 days, to go with the other deluge (16mm of rain on saturday) - probably 7 nightingales singing from various parts of the site today, plus blackcaps, willow warbler and chiffchaffs. The first whitethroat, sedge warbler, redstart, grasshopper warbler...

Mel, our catering manager, witnessed a rare event yesterday - mallard ducklings (seven of them) jumping out of the willow at the edge of the car park. This tree was reduced in height earlier in the year to prevent it from becoming unstable and it was a matter of some debate as to how much we took off...

Two very splendid-looking drake garganey on the north brooks today togther with gadwall, tufted duck, shelduck, teal, and shoveler, plus a small group of passage waders - 8 ringed plover and 2 dunlin. Three or four hobbies over the south brooks plus nightingales, garden warblers, whitethroats, blackcaps...

An osprey was over the north brooks at midday yesterday, appearing at precisely the same time as a guided walk I was leading arrived at the hanger viewpiont. Very convenient. It circled a few times, gained height and headed off to the north. Jon and Hans (who found the osprey), then topped that by finding...

Garden warblers singing from a few places around the trail now - a very reliable spot is just at the top of the zigzag path about 100m from the visitor centre. Lesser whitethroat has been singing regularly from a bit further down the path. Nightingales and blackcaps still singing well from various places...

Hundreds of swifts overhead/passing through all day yesterday. This morning at 08.00, masses of swallows and house martins hawking over the flood (probably 1000 over the whole site) and still many swifts. Nightingales and song thrushes in good voice around the trail, just-fledged rooks in the tree tops...

There were dramatic skies all day today as numerous squalls passed up the valley, but down at ground level in the hedges around the trail it was a different world altogether - lots of moschatel (below), bluebells and primroses in flower. On the bird front, at least 7, probably 8 nightingales singing...

...will usually bring a few reptiles out. These young common lizards were basking nr the black pond on the egde of the heath. Nightingales singing from various places around the trails, whitethroats and sedge warblers now in too. Water rail still showing in front of visitor centre window, and the...

The last week has seen a range of passage waders coming through - green sandpipers and little ringed plovers inevitably the most common (at least 6 of each on any given day), plus greenshanks (2), black-tailed godwits (2), dunlin and common sandpiper (2 or 3 each). Hobby, peregrine, sparrowhawk and buzzard...

More rain over the last few days has re-filled most of the pools on the north brooks and put a few splashes on West Mead - should bring in a few passage waders over the coming weeks. At least 1 green sandpiper is already here. Nightingales are feeding fledged young around the trail and still singing...

After the much needed rain of yesterday and last night (we had 32mm - probably more than fell in March, April and May put together!) a few passage birds have appeared. 1 dunlin, 1 green sandpiper and a common tern were present on the north brooks, together with the usual mallard, teal, wigeon, redshank...

After a poor spring here for woodlarks, one was singing on the heath this morning, along with a yellowhammer. Other birds around the heath included lots of young blue tits, juv great spotted woodpeckers and juv chaffinches. Spotted flycatcher still to be found nr Jupp's view. On the brooks, a few...

Hobbies - at least 2, possibly more, were putting on a fantastic show hunting dragonflies over the north brooks yesterday (best seen from Nettley's hide or Jupp's view). A marsh harrier was also seen hunting the brooks. Spotted flycatchers can be found nr Jupp's view and on the edge of the...

A golden oriole was singing from the woodland (the 'black wood') next to the bridleway yesterday afternoon. Found by one of our volunteers, Russ Tofts, it was infuriatingly elusive (as golden orioles tend to be). I went to look/listen for it early this morning without any luck, although I did...

Last week's wryneck and spoonbills were topped by an all too brief gull-billed tern that was seen by a couple of birders on sunday morning for a few minutes before it headed north. This morning saw the run of good birds continuing as a Temminck's stint was on the pool in front of west mead hide...

Spring continues to deliver it's 'firsts of 2011'. Anna saw the first swifts of the yr today - right on cue for the 28th April. A few sand martins and house martins were also 'high up' passing through. Low down, on the heath where I was checking the highland cattle, there were some...

Spring is very much in progress here due to the very warm weather - nightingales are singing all around the nature trail, cuckoos are cuckoo-ing and two of our later-arriving migrants, the lesser whitethroat and garden warbler, are 'in' now. A common crane dropped in to the reserve on sunday...