In what, for personal reasons, feels like much, much longer than normal, spring is finally here. There’s a fresh sense of optimism outside, with nature springing (heh) into action with new growth and life everywhere to be seen.
I think May may (heh again) be my favourite month. It’s when you can say for certain winter is behind us, the days are a proper length again, and everywhere looks so much nicer for the greenery and splendor.

For me, bluebell season brings a sense of calm and relief, after the grayness of winter

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There’s a notable increase in activity of waterfowl, prepping for new life in the weeks ahead

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I’m not sure if this is a fledgling or a parent run ragged from all the responsibility of a brood

In what might become a regular feature of this blog (- returning readers may recall the very first post advocating the unexpected quirks of working from home), I've continued to have fun watching the wildlife out of the little window to my left as I perform my photography post-processing duties.

It's been fascinating watching the blue tits using the feeder and rearing their young. Over the weeks across spring and summer I've seen the offspring going from being fairly dependent on their parents, all fluffy and uncoordinated, being brought and fed the seed, to developing a full plumage, mastering the art of flight and learning how to pick, sort and break into the seed for themselves.

A young blue tit still being fed by their parent

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A young blue tit learning how to operate the bird feeder

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Pushing for the burn

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I’ve also witnessed a fairly lucky slug managing to avoid becoming the lunch of an oblivious blue tit. I can confirm they did drop down safely to the ground without being eaten, shortly after the final photo in that sequence.