It rained all day and mid afternoon I made a decision to go for a walk anyway. I was so lucky as it soon stopped raining and I had a really pleasant walk up through the woods at the top of Stoke Park.

At first, near Duchess Pond, there was a noisy song thrush calling to another one.

Song thrush calling

I saw two swallows flashing across Duchess Pond and as I moved across to the flooded area they followed me.

The area to the side of Duchess Pond is really quite flooded at the moment and I saw a few mallard swimming in the field (so to speak). There was cuckoo flower everywhere – on a sunny day I would have hoped to see some orange tip butterflies.

In the woods at the top of the park the bluebells looked wonderful even on such a gloomy day and I was also pleased to see the ramson in blossom.

There was even some forget-me-knots in the wood.

I saw (and heard) two chiffchaff and then had a distant view of a great spotted woodpecker. As I progressed through the wood I saw the woodpecker again.

All through the wood I heard lots of robins but only saw four.

 

I’m not sure about this plant but could be habernia peramoena.

There were also lots of these (anemones I think) in the bluebell woods but difficult to tell as they had their heads down due to the rain.

 

Click below for gallery of photos from this afternoon.