Sparrowhawks

Great excitement in the reserve this morning.  A pair of Sparrowhawks are building a nest (nearing completion) and mating.  This is the male - what a beauty!  There are two more of him in Extras, included not for quality, but for character: the first shows him pulling at alder catkins (K joked, you don't suppose he thought they were worms, do you - but I was interested to see he was using them as nest lining).  The second extra is him peering down at lenses, my camera was one of 4 in the press pack.  And yes, we did see them mating, I even have shots, but the number of intervening branches and bum fluff means I'm not going to share them.

As I was taking these I kept remembering what my old boss used to say to me - 'don't just stand there, move around for the best angle'.  The problem this morning was that if I moved round I'd have landed in the river!

This afternoon I had to take Hazel up to the vet for a skin check.  The vet is delighted with her, as would I have been if we hadn't had to walk home in sudden blinding snow.  It's snowing again now, but I don't think it will last more that 10 mins.

Very dear WildflowerWeek-ers, I said I'd announce hearts and hon mentions tonight, but I think it will be the morning before I get round to it.  I'm so sorry, it's seemed a long (and very cold) day and I'm wilting rather.  But I do have to tell you I'm so pleased with the number and quality of entries - you are, in fact, superstars, one and all  xx

WildflowerWeek21_01 - Results
Hearts this week go to:
steveng
Pictastic
AngelsShare
WildBeeSea
HilarysView

and Hon Mentions to:
Evolybab
Pleach
Energia
13South
Tryfan46

The standard and number of entries I thought excellent, with some really interesting and different wildflowers as well as the much-loved.  So I want to say thank you to all of you.

And this year, if any of you would like to host for a week or two, please do ask.  I'd be delighted to get some fresh eyes on the process x