Bluebells in the morning light

So it's Flower Friday again, though this week most of my images have been botanical. I was up at dawn and out in Thorpe Wood by 7am, to do the second bird transect of the season. It was overcast when I started, making it quite hard to see birds, though fortunately I can do most by sound alone now. 

The season's moving on - two chiffchaffs were calling, and a blackcap sang very briefly. There seem to be two pairs of nesting nuthatches, and I was delighted to see a pair of treecreepers taking nesting material behind the loose bark of a dead standing trunk near the entrance. I'm pretty certain there's another pair on the opposite side of the wood. 

By the time I'd finished my first circuit the sun had appeared behind the cloud - after yesterday's rain the whole wood sparkled so I did another circuit with my camera. The bluebells still aren't at their peak, but I can never resist photographing them. This image seemed to sum up the feel of the morning...

The rest of the day has been spent tidying (shock horror!) and shopping, preparing for the return of Chris and Lizzy from Budapest and Pete's birthday tomorrow. Off to the station now to pick them up from the train...