Is it Spring Yet?

Listening to the radio this morning I heard that some take the 1st of March as the beginning of Spring but others say it doesn't start until the Vernal Equinox on the 20th. Either way it feels more like it this morning with the Sun streaming through the window behind me even if the temperature is only just above 1C.

Yesterday was a complete washout with steady rain most of the day but the water which had started to flood the back lawn has mostly disappeared already. Just a few icy patches left. I didn't even get the cameras out yesterday as the rain running down the windows and the dull lighting would have made it impossible to get anything other than very arty blurred photos.

Another of my windowsill orchids is cheering me up. An Oncidium which has produced a small spike of flowers this year.



Outdoors some heather in a hanging basket is doing its best to brighten up a dull time of year.



The other day I took some better photographs of the fungi I had spotted on the tall stump of an Ash Tree.

  

Now my Colllins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms & Toadstools has arrived I must make another effort to identify it. Goodness me - I didn't realise there were so many different fungi growing in the country.

Another unidentified 'object' is a duck. Not very far away is a house with a large plot of land which includes a decent sized natural pond. On the pond are a group of ducks. I assume these are not a native breed, possibly imported or specially bred. In the photo they seem to have a lot of brown colour but when you look at them the first impression is they are black with dark blue and purple.



At the same house they have quite a variety of different types of chickens and there are always a few taking advantage of any warmth from the Sun.



One local bird is really annoying me at the moment. It sings very loudly most mornings. It is not the volume of the song which is annoying me. I just cannot get a glimpse of the bird to identify it and nor can I find the song in the examples on the British Garden Birds web site.  When I take a recorder with me on the early morning walk it doesn't sing. When I forget, like this morning, it deafens me! Also some times I could swear the sound is moving as though it is one which sings in flight. The song never varies and warbles quite a bit but I couldn't find it among the warbler songs I listened to. I will keep trying to capture it and post a sample here, eventually.