Hello there
Spring is nearly here! The weather this week has been lovely—sunny and blue skies. Two butterflies in the garden yesterday, a tortoiseshell and a small white. Lots of birds too, including “our” woodpecker, tits and finches.
On a walk down to Blue Anchor, a tractor was ploughing the field opposite Yarrow
Park. It was obviously disturbing the worms, etc., because there were hundreds of birds about, including at least ten buzzards feeding onthe ground, plus others in the air. Also, many gulls and crows.
At Tuck Mill, I was excited to see a little egret on the bank by the mill stream. I spoke to him, and he was not at all frightened by me. He was there for at least half an hour! Little egrets are a great success story in Britain. There were none at all when I was younger, but now they are widespread. However, I’ve never seen one so close to home.
Margaret and I were lucky enough to spend a week in Andalucia, Spain, in February. I went on two 
bird-watching trips there, and saw lots of good birds, including flamingos, spoonbills and azure winged magpies.
Back home, we went on the bird-watching tram from Seaton, along the Axe valley, the other day. The highlights there were a glossy ibis in the reeds, plus a lovely barn owl, which treared us to several fly-pasts. Glossy ibises are birds of North Africa and the Mediterranean, but in recent years, some of them have visited us in the UK. Is this proof of global warming?
Alan Jones (01404 841671)
