Iridescent.
#starlings #gardenbirds #SIBirdClub #bbcspringwatch #springwatch @bbcspringwatch

A field day of sparrows…
#sparrows #gardenbirds #SIBirdClub #bbcspringwatch #springwatch @bbcspringwatch

Alberto Frog is back in town! #pondlife #springwatch #frogs???? #frogsofinstagram

#Repost @bbcspringwatch
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Another fantastic show tonight! ???????? But what if Springwatch did Love Island?………???????????????? #doveisland .
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#loveisland #loveisland2018 #wildlife #wildlifephotography #springwatch #britishwildlife #tv #jokes #naturelovers #justforfun #justforyou #spring #uk #banter #bants #mytypeonpaper @loveisland @chrishughesofficial @kemcetinay @oliviajade_attwood @amb_d

Annual @bbcspringwatch viewing for @bellafanella… #springwatch

First one’s gone…
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#GreatTits #fledging #nests #birds #springwatch @bbcspringwatch

This little chap is sure to fledge soon…
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#GreatTits #fledglingstobe #springwatch @bbcspringwatch

Big Great Tits and little Great Tits…
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#nestbox #nests #GreatTits #springwatch @bbcspringwatch

Great Tit on poo removal duties… #springwatch

Cuckoo Call by Betty Salthouse

Family loyalties, teenage angst, sibling rivalry, murder, attempted suicide. These are powerful, important subjects. Betty Salthouse’s third book Cuckoo Call pulls all the subjects in a story that could easily be about human relationships as it is about a family of blackbirds living with a quite literal cuckoo in the nest.

For anyone who watches BBC’s Springwatch we know how perilous the early days of a family of birds can be. Who doesn’t know what happens when a Cuckoo lays her egg in blackbird nest. When the young family of blackbirds and our hero, Brains, are introduced it is with love and affection, but we know that this can only end one way. From the outset we wonder how this story will play out. Betty Salthouse skillfully crafts an honest tale of what happens in nature that can teach us all a lesson.

Cuckoo Call beautifully written, at times brutal, but heartwarming story. A true classic tale in the making.

The pincers of an Ant Lion preparing his trap in the sand… #springwatch #antlion @bbcspringwatch #nature #wildlife

The real day-confusion though, I guess it all started a week last Friday on my Birthday. Emma took me to see Bekonscot Model Village – I always thought it was Beaconsfield (which it is in) Model Village when I have seen it on the brown signs on the M40 ever since I first came to the Oxford area twenty years ago(!). It’s a fantastic place full of childhood wonder…

The thing is, that day out (and the Prezzo meal that followed it) made it seem a bit Saturday-ish (appropriately enough for our wedding anniversary any celebration-plans were dampened by waiting in all day for the Gas Man to Cometh and fix the boiler), and then we did Sunday-ish things on Saturday, so by the time we got to the bank holiday weekend I really didn’t know what day it was!

Then it got really confusing, because on Tuesday we went off to celebrate my belated-birthday with my Mum and Dad for a couple of days (after that is, the Gas Man Returneth to actually fix the boiler). We went to a very nice nursery in Suffolk where we got my present from my parents which was in the form of an Espallier Royal Russett Apple tree for the garden. Then we went out to the dinner at the local hotel in a failed attempt to stalk the Springwatch team…

Wednesday saw us making the short trip down to RSPB Minsmere for some more Springwatch-stalking. Within moments of us entering the (appropriately-named) Bittern Hide, not one, but two bitterns flew in from the right and landed in the reedbeds right in front of us. One of them proceeded to wade and swim out of the reeds in front of us. Brilliant stuff! We also heard them boom, and paid our respects to Spineless Simon, and heard the guys talking about an adder called Baldrick.

So, by the time we got to drive off into the sunset on Wednesday, whether it was Wednesday or Sunday (or indeed which Sunday) was really, all very confused. I could really do with another holiday. Oh, wait, in just nine working days time I will be getting one.

I love the contrasts. I love it that you can have cold winters and hot summers and those gorgeous, changing and changeable times between (spring and autumn). It makes me happy.

I’m not about to knock Bill Oddie ‘cos I do like him, but I do think that his presenting style was getting just that little too over the top for the programme. Now though, with the pairing of Chris and Kate, the dynamic is just so funny – it’s great!

But Bella is back. She’s had some food and is now tucked up on the back of the armchair catching up on two week’s worth of much needed shut eye. Deputising for his sister though, Arthur has stepped up close and personal to the TV to keep an eye on all the Springwatch action. I was able to enjoy the programme much more for having our little family complete once again.

In the afternoon, Emma takes the wheel and drives us through the spectacular Glen Coe – nowhere near as forboding in clear blue sky and sunshine as it would be haunting in the cold, grey and rain – to the Corran Ferry, and from there a winding and beautiful journey through oak forests on the way to the Ardnamurchan Peninsular and the small community of Ackarackle. I say community because the collection of shops and houses does not feel like a village in the usual sense. We have a cup of tea at the Blue Parrot Post Office, shop and tea room before travelling the last couple of miles to get the boat onto the island.

Alistair – the island manager of just eight months – meets us and several other couples also going across and loas us into the tiny motorboat launch for the 10 minute crossing. His assistant Paul drives the quadbike and trailor with all our stuff on board up to our little cottage in the woods.

An old crofters and/or shepherd’s hut with a porch extension on one side and a bathroom extension on the other, it has a simple painted, wood-pannelled interior with a small coal burning stove.

On our first night on our tranquil island we are visited by a pine martin, who spends some time in front of our lounge window, scoffing the peanuts we put out especially to tempt him out of the woods.