Bum Barrel

The river valley's flooded again so my morning walk was restricted to the north side of the Rowing Lake. Welcome sunshine and relatively mild temperatures made it feel quite spring-like, a feeling amplified by the burgeoning bird song - robins, great tits, blue tits and song thrushes all trying out their voices, sometimes rather hesitantly.

Most of the birds were hiding in the tops of trees and bushes, but I spent a while watching a family group of long-tailed tits foraging, and managed to capture one that stopped for a short while in a nearby hawthorn. I think these are some of the most characterful of small songbirds, and they have some of the best alternative names of any including Long-tailed Pie, Mumruffin, Bottle Tit, Bum Barrel, Bum Towel, Oven Bird, Bag and Hedge Jug