Inspired by my trip to the Forest of Dean with the travel company Naturetrek I felt I needed a return trip. We spent the morning at Nagshead. I must confess I saw nowhere near as many birds without a guide but we still had a splendid time.

We were greated by a pair of Greylag geese with three goslings at the Nursery Pond but I struggled to photograph them against the light.

Down at the lower pond we spent a good while watching a pair of pied flycatchers doing what flycatchers do. I wish we had had a telescope as they were a joy to watch. We could easily see the pair of Mandarin ducks but they too were difficult to photograph as the light was very bright. (Yes, photographers are always complaining about the light.)

Out of the blue we bumped in to some friends in the car park as we were about to leave and stayed and enjoyed sitting with them at the Nursery Pond over a coffee. Trips into the countryside and meeting friends: what more could you ask for?

Before heading home we stopped at Cannop Ponds and enjoyed seeing more Mandarin ducks and some tufted ducks. We also spent some time near a feeder where there were nuthatch, chaffinch, great tits, blue tits and (I believe) marsh tits.