A birding first and early signs of spring

A new bird for the woodland - a goldcrest being busy, busy, busy flittering around the old alder seed heads. This takes the total bid list for the woodland and wildflower meadow to 69.

Coppicing and thinning continues, but there seem to be some early signs of spring:

The catkins have been out for a couple of weeks, but today for the first time I noticed the tiny red female hazel flowers

Underfoot the bluebells are poking their heads into the leaf litter

There are leaves of Herb Robert showing:

The weather has been so mild that we are having a ridiculously early spring - we don't usually have to mind our footsteps while coppicing to avoid the bluebells.