This morning was the first time ever that we have seen ice on the pond, which was only filled in March this year. Didn’t stop the dog going in though.

We have a friend who is doing a bird list this year and yesterday he saw a Grey Phalarope which took him to 299 species seen this year in Britain. All the more impressive when achieved alongside a very demanding job.

But I try not to let this make me feel less excited by the fact that we saw our 37th bird species on the meadows today – a Grey Heron down by the pond.

There are no fish in that pond and probably very little else of interest to a Heron at this time of year and so he would not have been rewarded for dropping by, but he didn’t get a chance to find out:

Two Herring Gulls – probably the ones who have been paddling the meadow for worms for a few days and are feeling proprietorial over it – set up a continuous and noisy bombardment of him until he gave it all up as a bad job and took off up the hill.