It's become one of our seasonal traditions to visit Cammo Country Park in February. The area is just full of snowdrops at this time of year, specially in the Walled Garden. Today was no exception, in fact there seemed to be more snowdrops outside the Walled garden then normal. Just beautiful! (Notice in the first photo the tree that's fallen over and the snowdrops at its base still growing!)
It was a perfect late winter day too with the weather. Well most of the morning! Blue skies, crisp cold air. Then the clouds drew in, the atmosphere changed and suddenly we were in the middle of a blizzard, wild winds and snow that stopped after only a few minutes then it was perfect blue skies again!
It was a great day for birds, the highlights being a tree sparrow (and a flock of what were probably more tree sparrows feeding on a ploughed field, but we couldn't get close enough to see) a yellowhammer (looking particularly bright in the sunshine) a skylark, singing the first skylark song of the year. These are all birds that have declined in numbers quite drastically in the Uk so it's always a particular delight to see them (in fact this is only the second time we've ever seen tree sparrows at all!). We also had an amazing view of a buzzard that was being aggressively mobbed by crows. 
15 comments:
Your posts are always so beautiful.
:)
Oh wow, that is a lot of snowdrops. It looks gorgeous. What a beautiful place. Lovely photos.
wonderful hike, thanks
I enjoy checking out the birds you spot on your hikes--thanks for providing the links! Of the three birds you saw, the only one I found in my Birds of North America book was the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. I was surprised to learn that it was introduced in the middle US and is "locally common in parks, suburbs and farmlands around St Louis Missouri and in nearby Illinois".
They will probably spread outward from there in the same way the starlings and English sparrows have. Back in the 1800's, a wealthy bird lover decided to import all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare to live in Central Park in New York. Most of them, like the nightingale, did not survive, but the starlings and sparrows thrived and spread all across the country to become some of our most common birds.
I have never know the snowdrops last as long as they have done this year Juliet. What a splendid sight those are at Cammo.
We have a lot of tree sparrows here - they nest in some of our bird boxes. We also have buzzard which fly over - the crows are really good at mobbing the buzzard but he doesn't take a lot of notice.
Looks like Narnia to me!
The snowdrops are gorgeous and so friendly. I clicked on the Cammo link. What a fastastic place. The old stone entrance made me pause and daydream for a minute. I would love to be able to wander those grounds.
the snowdrops look lovely :) what another lovely post - it makes me want to go on a hike now and admire the wildlife.
Fabulous to see so many snowdrops in Feb! My weather at altitude can change drastically, too. No flowers for me 'til late May or June.
Fun weather description. That is the way it is here in April when we all are out and about looking at the tulip fields!!!
Love this place if the photos do it justice. Snowdrops, skylarks, buzzards, snow a delightful walk.
I had the experience of quick changes of weather, blue sky blizzard, hail, wind, blue sky again in Connemara in Ireland, it's a kind of weather that gives a jolt of electricity in the body...
a buzzard mobbed by crows? That's unusual, or is it? I didn't think the crows couldn't be exactly the bossy ones, maybe they felt strong because the buzzard was alone and they were many?
Ms Sparrow - yes, I've heard about the 'birds of Shakespeare' project! I didn't realise the tree sparrow had also made it to USA!
Weaver - it's definitely a good year for snowdrops! How lovely that you have plenty of tree sparrows!
Tommaso - it's quite common for crows to mob buzzards - they see them as competition!
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