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Summer Getting Closer

With the hot weather at the weekend a walk among the bluebells was thought a good idea. With a perfectly still warm day the scent of the flowers hung in the air and in the Chilterns the flowers were still at their best.

The following day we went to College Lake near Tring. I hadn't been to this reserve for the best part of two decades. When I first visited it was just a hole in the chalk full of water with a few coot swimming around. Now it is landscaped and well populated although the layout makes the whole thing feel staged at times. In the hot weather on Sunday light and heat was reflecting off the chalk and made walking in some parts quite uncomfortable. In the shady parts there were some nice displays of dog violets.

Islands created in the lake had attracted a lot of breeding water birds. Terns were very much in evidence, a marked contrast to Fishers Green where the black headed gulls seemed to be monopolising the tern rafts. We also saw oystercatcher, redshank and lapwing as well as the usual selection of waterfowl. I only had bins with me but intend get the scope and tripod out of mothballs for a return visit.

As well as fox cubs last week we had a glimpse of two badger cubs just scuttling off the road near Cadsden as we drove home on Saturday night. At home the starlings are the main visitor now but we did have a flying visit from a long tailed tit this afternoon. This is the first for a while, they seemed to have moved on with the start of the breeding season. Today a real suprise was to see a cock house sparrow in a front garden at the end of my road. I haven't had one in the garden for years.

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