Lots of Walking, no Coffeeing, Saving Money, Getting Fitter :)

Since the lockdown, we have been walking daily, some short, some long, we are getting fitter.  We are still avoiding cafes, but what we did not realise is how much money we were spending on coffee; two coffees, about £2.50 each = £5.00, times that by seven days = £35, times that by fifty-two weeks =  £1,820, then times that by five years =  £9,100 :\   

One of the places we have been walking is Badbury Rings, we are discovering a few walks around this area.

View of a field with linseed

Linseed

 View of a poppy field

 Dark Green Fritillary Butterfly

Wonderful Discovery

 Made a wonderful discovery two days ago, I HAVE BLACKBIRDS NESTING IN MY GARDEN!   It is the first time that Blackbirds have nested in my garden.  I have been gardening now for twenty years and I always have wildlife in mind so to have Blackbirds choosing to nest in my garden is an achievement.   There is a clematis, Montana, growing up the side of the shed with the Ivy, both I planted over ten years ago and now they provide a perfect place for the Blackbird to build a nest. 

My list of young birds in my garden this Spring so far: Sparrow, Dunnock, Blackbird, Wood Pigeon, Siskin(lots of these)

   View of the Ivy which covers the thick stems of the clematis, the hole is where the nest is

  
   You can just see two beaks of the young, there are three in the nest

Spectacular Starlings!

I follow the blog of  'Birds of Poole Harbour' and also follow their twitter account, they have been reporting a large number of starlings murmurating at Studland this winter recently, so today we went to Shell Bay car park at Studland, it is the car park near the ferry.  We were not disappointed, the starlings were spectacular.  We stood in the car park and watched them flying over our heads with the sound of their wings beating together, it was an amazing experience.  The starlings are roosting in the reed bed next to the car park giving us a very close encounter.   There has always been a small flock murmurating each winter at Studland but this winter is different, the flock is large, several thousands.  This is my first set of pictures of 2017 :)