Out of Africa

There were at least two willow warblers in song on top of the Knott this morning. This was one of them, flying just after I focussed on him singing in a yew tree. They are active, fidgety birds that rarely stay for long on the same song perch.

This is the bird for me that truly heralds the arrival of Spring. Some of the Summer visitors arrive earlier, the chiffchaffs have been here in force now for two weeks, but they have not travelled as far as this songster. Willow warblers winter in southern Africa, and to get here this tiny bird that weighs about 10 grams has completed a migration of 5000 miles across deserts, mountains and seas.  Isn't nature wonderful?

I heard my first one of the year on Thursday, on a cold morning when I was still wearing my Winter coat. 

Today it has been almost as warm as it was on those strange February days when people were out in T-shirts and shorts. I'm making progress with the allotment - potatoes, onions, broad beans and spring onions planted. I'm already beginning to wonder whether I've got enough space to grow everything that I have in my seed collection.

This photo also shows the little male cones on the yew, that will soon be shedding clouds of pollen.