Wetland warblers and a home birth

My first trip for a while to Newport Wetlands. I'd heard that the numbers of Cetti's warbelrs was down, and certainly there seemed to be a lot fewer than last year, presumably due to the harder winter? The whitethroats seemed to be making up for it however. I gather they can be a boom and bust species, and this year they seem to be doing pretty well.
There were still some unpaired sedge warblers singing their little hearts out. Earlier in the year I thought how attractive the flowering blackthorn was with the mass of white flowers on the leafless stems, but now the hawthorn with flowers and leaves at the same time just looks so much more ...... well, more.
Down at the cafe the goslings were looking suitably cute, and almost made up for the fact that they've stopped selling bacon butties. I was offered a bacon and something panini, but come on guys. They'll be putting doilies on the tables next. Thank goodness they still sell black coffee.
At home we had the first fledgling sparrows on the lawn - hopefully one of our broods from the nest boxes, but I haven't had a chance to sit and watch them to confirm this.