Small Treasures.

An overcast, damp and windy day today (Tuesday) was definitely not conducive to getting decent photos of any sightings. Despite these adverse conditions the birds were still singing their hearts out as I wandered around two separate locations a little further away from home.

 Our little pocket rocket, the Wren, blasted out its song but always from a well concealed perch.
 

Again Chiffchaffs were the everywhere but it was also good to listen to the warbling male Blackcaps even if they also chose inappropriate song posts for the lens. At Riverside Country Park I did at least manage one new Surrey sighting for the year as 8 Swallows showed off their aerial acrobatics over the lake while catching insects around midday. Hopefully they will appear on the local patch list very soon.

Early afternoon saw me trudging around Bookham Common hoping to hear some new arrivals but again it was mainly Chiffys and Blackcap. Lapwings were displaying over the nearby farmland and a resident Common Buzzard made a brief distant sortie to stir up the Pigeons and Starlings.

I have peered at various images of the American Goldfinch on many of my readers blogs on the other side of the pond so I grabbed a very brief opportunity through the car window to capture our Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) just so they can see what a colourful little species we enjoy over here.

Back at home in the garden, two other small treasures have opened up. Erythronium 'Pagoda' and I'm delighted that the clump is slowly getting larger year upon year .....

... plus Anemone nemorosa 'Robinsoniana' providing some muted colour on the shaded side of the path.

Hopefully with better weather predicted for the next few days we may find some new species arriving locally who may not be quite so camera shy!    FAB.