HOW GREEN IS YOUR VALLEY

The Stour valley is very green at present,made my first visit there for a couple of months on Friday ,the reeds have grown substantially in that time and work has been undertaken in front of the hides to clear the views.Starting at the Reed Bed hide, a Kingfisher was perched on one of the posts in front so carefully opened the window and got a couple of shots off before he was away in a cobalt blue flash.

MALE KINGFISHER

KINFISHER AT REED BED HIDE STODMARSH.
A Great White Egret was seen briefly in flight from the hide but did not come close, Steve Ashton should market his after shave,he`d make a fortune.
The Bearded tit flock was found on the path to the Marsh Hide but in the breezy conditions remained fairly elusive

BEARDED REEDLING Deep in the reeds.

This one popped out briefly,then the flock departed en masse towards the Lampen Wall.
There was little to see from the other hides or the ramp apart from the usual ducks and good numbers of lapwings milling around struggling to find some dry land.

LAPWINGS

Retraced my steps back to the car park without incident until a late Hobby passed overhead on the nature trail.

HOBBY

Last week a blog appeared written in a style reminiscent of Gilbert White about the volunteers at Stodmarsh/Grove but I can`t find it now to finish reading it ,I can`t remember the authors pseudonym
has anyone retained a link to it?