A bright day with the hazy Sun peering through stratus
cloud; blackthorn blossoms sweetened the air and heightened the senses, spring
seems to have begun. Bees delicately visited the pink-white flowers and the song
of small birds came from every tree. 
We made a bee-line for tower hide, spotting greylag and Canada
geese lining up along the banks of the lagoons on the way. Cetti’s warblers exploded
in song, buried somewhere deep along the edges of the path. Tufted duck, pochard,
mute swans and great crested grebes dabbled and drifted on the pools of water. Tower
hide boasted mixed rafts of shoveler and teal, with the occasional shelduck and
gadwall. A heron hunted in the distant pools. A majestic marsh harrier perched
in a scrubby tree, surveying the view over the reedbed. Taking to the sky on
broad, fingered wings, looking straight into the hide, or so it seemed, then
skimming the roof and away.
Rather than risk the sticky mud that can frequent the trail
at this time of year, we turned back and made our way towards fen hide. At
first, little moved, except a dabbling coot. Then, thanks to some other
visitors who pointed out the ‘ping’ call coming from the reeds, my first ever
photograph of a wild bearded tit – a pair presented themselves to the onlookers
from the hide, the male showing off his beautiful markings from the tip of a
reed momentarily before flitting away and beckoning his mate to follow.
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