The wood anemones are flowering down the valley. We only have a couple at the moment.

The willow catkins are buzzing with bees and butterflies. There are two types of willow catkin here. We're not sure of the exact species.

On the bird front, we had this light coloured long tailed tit along with her partner.

There were a lot of chiffchaffs about too, including this one which stayed around the garden most of the day.

Yet another new bird species seen from the house. First thing this morning, these two Ruddy Shelducks flew in. We'll never know if they have escaped from some wildfowl collector or if they've accidentally migrated here.

It was a beautifully sunny day and there were lots of black redstarts about. Too many really, they seem to be fighting a lot. This one was 'singing' his heart out.

We don't usually bother distinguishing marsh/willow tit species, but I heard this one calling, so I know it was a willow tit.

This willow was shining brightly down the valley in the sun.

I'm sure we've seen this unusual buzzard before. It had me reaching for the rough-legged buzzard notes. Sadly not.

We're expecting the siskins to leave the garden soon so I thought I'd include this male as I was enjoying his singing so much.

Finally, a photo of a white wagtail. They don't usually come close to the house, but today there were three chasing each other and they took a rest in the hawthorn. This one was behind some twigs, but the photo isn't too bad.

We've found a lot of bugs in the house as spring nears. I've been trawling my insect books but I've had difficulty finding what they were. Today I took some photos and found out that they're actually an invasive species from North America and weren't found in Europe until 1999. This is the Western Conifer Seedbug, Leptoglossus occidentalis, and this year seems to be a bumper year.

Another glorious day albeit with a chilly breeze.

We both went for a run this morning and then I continued on for a loop over the Finkenberg. I saw two woodcocks!

Yet again, there was a large tortoiseshell in the garden.

A goldcrest spent a long time hopping around our spruce and I finally managed to nail a couple of decent photos.

The light was perfect for photography and the birds are a bit braver as they're all trying the establish territories. I got some very pleasing photos of a dunnock singing in the bird cherry.

There's one lump of snow remaining in the valley. I'm not quite sure why it's still there. Christine reckoned it had dropped off a plane.

I've included sundry photos of other birds seen today.

Here's another photo of a large tortoiseshell from today. This seems to be a different individual from the one we saw yesterday as he doesn't have the wing damage. Like yesterday though, he was fluttering around between the house and our birch tree.

It was warm enough today to sit in the garden in shorts. Very pleasant indeed.

After I initially added this diary entry, I found a spider upstairs - we had the windows open all day. When I let him out, a large moth flew into the house. I identified this as a Tissue, an overwinterer, the first moth of the year and a new record for the garden (our 442nd species of lepidoptera).

This large tortoiseshell was establishing a territory around our house today. We don't see a lot of these rare butterflies.

Although it has been really cold overnight, during the day it has really been getting warm. The frogs and spawn are building up in the pond.

A buzzard has taken up residence beside the pond and has found that he can swoop over the pond and pluck frogs out of the water.

Today, we saw this treecreeper searching around one of our sheds for spiders.

It began quite spring-like today and crept up to 14^oC. We had some early migrants returning to the garden like these male and female black redstarts and this chiffchaff. We also had a male blackcap, but I didn't get a photo of him. These are all much earlier than normal.

I went for a longish run in the morning and saw lots of coltsfoot and lesser celandine flowering.

In the early afternoon, I spyed this male firecrest in his breeding colours. I wish I'd got a better photo, but the light was poor and he wouldn't stay still.

As the day progressed, the nice weather deteriorated drastically. By 4 o'clock it was 2^oC and was snowing heavily.

There has been continuous heavy rain and gusty wind all week. Today it eased off a bit.

A sparrowhawk was flying with other raptors. I've seen this before. I think they do it so that their prey sees the bigger birds and think they're safe. Anyway, he stayed out of the garden today.

Again, familiar behaviour for this time of year, this crow was prancing around looking very pleased with himself.

And, this long tailed tit was demonstrating the peanut eating technique which is unique to them.

Storm Eberhardt has been pummeling us today with torrential rain and high winds.

Even so, we had high numbers of birds including some of the ones we only see rarely in the valley, for example starlings. One of the starlings had a good look over one of our sheds, presumably as a potential nesting site.

The heavy rain provided some photo opportunities for some very bedraggled hawfinches. Their feathers don't seem to be able to cope as well as other birds. The great spotted woodpecker sat for a long time in this tree sheltering from the deluge.

Once again, we had a lot of mistle thrushes. They've moved around to behind the house now and they've been joined by some song thrushes today who were delighting us with their songs.

Despite the weather, there was lots of territorial behaviour, mainly from blue tits, chaffinches and blackbirds. It's been really funny to see tiny chaffinches chasing after blackbirds twice their size.

The hawfinches continue to delight. This fine boy sat compliantly in the sun for me to photograph (actually this was taken through a window as the hawfinches are still too skittish to stick around if I try to open it).

There was a lot of bird activity in the valley today. The snow has nearly all gone and this has brought in lots of mistle thrushes who have been rootling about in the exposed leaf litter. Conversely, this flock of approx. 150 bramblings chose to land on the last remaining bit of snow.

There was a feeling of spring in the air today. We're seeing birds we haven't seen for a while like dunnocks and the raptors. There were several pairs of buzzards and red kites performing courtship dances over the valley. The blue tits have already begun their parachute displays.

We've had a lot of hawfinches this year - it is definitely the best year ever for them - we've had between 5 and 15 in the garden every day for well over a month.

In contrast, we've hardly seen any red squirrels this winter. Just the occasional brief visit like we had today.

As I was packing up my camera, I spotted a goldcrest hopping about in the hedge. He's been around for a good few weeks, but he usually appears late in the evening when the light is poor. I got a photo - which is more than I expected. I also managed to spot a bank vole. To finish off, I took some photos of the snowdrops in the back garden so we can see how they've spread from previous years.

Addendum: Even though I'd already downloaded all my photos for the day, I was looking out of the window as the light faded and I spotted a strange bird flying past. Luckily I still had my camera - it was a white stork! A new species for us here.