No winter yet but is Spring in the Air?

Today was a much brighter day, and I managed to venture out for a short walk round the village.

A walk down Chapel Lane showed that winter really hasn't arrived. There are more flowers out than I can remember seeing before and even a few bees around,

The village pond is always a focal point, the only problem is that it does sometimes attract people to feed slices of bread to the ducks. There are two things wrong, it isn't good for the ducks and it does attract rats.

There were only two Mallards on the pond, but the drake was looking very dapper and if it stays warm and they remain true to type it won't be long before spring will be in the air.

Just down the road, at the corner of Dover Road, a great deal of noise was coming from the rookery. Most of the nests are in Holm Oaks, but a few are now in view in other trees. 

Rooks, and their co-tenants Jackdaws, are among the earliest of our birds to start getting their nests sorted out. Breeding probably won't start until Mark, but a great deal playing with sticks will take place before then.