Recent Park Walk.

Last Thursday Anita and I paid a visit to Richmond Park. Our stroll started at the Isabella Plantation and whilst it is still too early for the amazing array of blooms there were a few Rhodendrons and Camelia in flower with quite a few bees and other flyers collecting the early pollen. The deciduous tree canopy is still very bare but the understory heathers are starting to provide some colour.

Plenty of colour on the pond with the male Mandarin in full breeding plumage.

As we headed over towards Pen Ponds a small group of does (Red Deer) were enjoying a splash about in one of their very muddy wallows.

At the main ponds we noticed many new notices requesting dog owners to keep their charges on leads to protect the wildlife but as you might have guessed we only saw one owner complying! We also watched a group of Crows fighting; constantly pecking at one individual who was stretched out on the ground but I was too far away for any decent photos. Fortunately the bullies eventually gave up and the one being attacked flew away apparently unharmed.

Male Tuftie doing his daily exercises in the sunshine.  FAB.

Garden Colours.

I have been out of sorts for about a week ... can't remember when I last suffered from a winter cold but I'll be glad when if finally disappears. I finally manged to get out for a stroll in the last two days so while I sort through the stored images here are a few recent odds and ends from the garden. 

The wary Reynard made another brief visit.

Narcissus starting the brighten up the bare border.

Scilla siberica (possibly 'Spring Beauty')

Greedy Parakeet wants to know who's watching.

Blue Tit checking if anything is lurking below.

Another delightful find was the reemergence of the short stemmed Leucojum vernum var. Carpathicum. 

The Hellebores continue to produce more faces every day.  

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Dawn for the invitation to feature The Early Birder as UK blogger of the week on BirdingBlogs.com   FAB. 

Reynard Returns.

Continuation from previous post .....
After disappearing for an hour or so the young urban fox returned but this time I was actually in the garden doing some weeding and the camera was close at hand. It casually walked across the border and decided to lie down behind a bare stem as if trying to hide! 

As I tried to get a better view my movements were closely monitored but this creature seemed totally unfazed by my reasonably close presence.

It eventually moved further in amongst the limited foliage and laid still for a while before slowly taking its leave and disappearing through the hedge. 

Just another magical wildlife encounter.   FAB.