And now the fauna ...

Many things cute and cuddly and once again highlighting the splendid variety and beauty that nature offers when we are patient. Like the flora, most of these speak for themselves. I did enough pontificating in the last post, so will annotate more and offer far less commentary this time :).

Let's begin with the baby bunnies that are always exploring around the Dairy - even straying right up to our windows at times. The sleeper at left offers a neat scale for this little one; and the two below are figuring out what grazing is all about - on the driveway and in the adjoining paddock.

 

Then, while we are still at the Dairy, there are our resident greylag geese - seen here soaking up the early morning spring sun on our drive. Always willing to drop by and see what is happening and seldom short of a honk! By contrast, the two on the right are in a very natural habitat (Salhouse Broad) and are enjoying the afternoon spring sunshine so much they appear to be walking on water rather than paddling in it, or resting on driveway pebbles!

Lambs sticking close by their mum and ponies, both grazing peacefully and sharing the sunshine and nice green grass ... both on a nice riverside walk between the Dairy back towards the University on a long loop.

 

Where there is spring and colour you are bound to find butterflies and moths ... these each along the same walk shown above but each at different points along the paths. The middle one is a Painted lady; and if you check the other two Peacocks, notice the second one has a damaged left wing to confirm they are different creatures (or perhaps the same one that had sustained damage and happened to be following me :) ... not!

The next characters I have come to sight more regularly than expected. The great crested grebe is flighty though, travels quite a way when they dive and difficult to get close to capture their spectacular plummage. In these the plummage glistens in the afternoon spring light; and as a special treat at Salhouse Broad I came across one minding a nest to boot!

While we are on the water, here are some more paddlers - the very common mute swan creating a symmetrical wake on the River Wensum and another fluffling and preening on a paddock pond ... spring offers a nice reflection too. And finally the distinctive brown eye shadow of the Egyptian goose.

No fauna compilation would be complete without a few more treats from the little elusive chirpers that are becoming easier to hear as they are active in the sunshine. As spring cloaks the bare branches, however, seeing them is increasingly a challenge and test of patience. These ones were kind to me ... the robin is easy to identify; next is a dunnock (quite sparrow like); I am pretty sure the third one is a chiff chaff (despite having my bird book, the identification process is challenging with so many minute variations on these small birds!); and the final one is a chaffinch (beautiful chirp and quite common).

Couldn't resist sharing this one with you - the clarity is dubious BUT we have a pair of these bluetits that have been getting amorous with their own reflections in the car mirrors and windscreens of the cars parked here at the Dairy. Cute ... but stupid! Seeing the bluetit against the side car mirror offers a great scale for their very small size and helps your appreciation of what I mean by "elusive" and "difficult to spot". Each of the ones pictured above are similar in real size (scale) to the bluetit. The noise of their calls belies body size.

My penultimate fauna offering is a grey heron. This fellow flew by a couple of days ago as I was walking by the river and on my return journey was kind enough to land nearby and wade in a paddock pond. I love the "combover" on this one, the left leg raised in stealthy hunt and the reflection. Alas, I was not good enough to get the result of a strike!

Finally, as an excellent metaphor for our holiday and consistent blog theme being all about the "slow journey" and the opportunity to notice much and listen to silence and see much of what it has to offer,  here is the spring snail ... plenty of hares about, but this is the emblem for our exploration of Norfolk :) ... Steve on the move!