Kingfishers, Easter Eggs and Grandma

The Easter weekend is now drawing to a close and for me it's been a pretty busy one.

The man arrived on Friday early afternoon after his first long-distance motorway drive, without incident and gasping for a mug of tea :-). We went to our favourite Chinese restaurant in the local town for a meal and ended up bumping into an old college friend of mine in the pub.

On Saturday we drove down to Somerset to spend the day with my Grandma. Arrived there at about half 11 and had a wonderful warm, blue-skied sunny day there, leaving behind the drizzle and grey clouds.Whilst there the man and I took the opportunity of exploring the local countryside and river walks (whilst Grandma had her afternoon nap). Lots of birds and butterflies seen, whilst having a gentle walk along the banks of the River Brue.

Final bird count for the day was:

Pheasant,
Blackbird,
Jackdaw,
Starling,
Blue Tit,
Robin,
Great Tit,
Wood Pigeon,
Collared Dove,
Dunnock,
Goldfinch,
Grey Wagtail,
and........................................(!)
Kingfisher

Yes, we finally got one... got two sights of him, both in flight, and the second gave us a great view of the electric blue - well worth the wait! :-)

On the butterfly count, we saw some Peacocks, and our first Small Tortoiseshell of the season.

I have decided I NEED a proper bird book! - I can't wait for our trip to Norfolk, my aim is to see, or hear, some Bitterns.

I have yet to have an Easter Egg! The closest I've got is a creme egg from the man's brother a couple of weekends ago... :-( Still, they'll be going cheap soon :-)