Spring is sprung (2) .................

It's a few years since I went wood warbler snapping in the Forest of Dean so I suppose it wasn't a surprise I took a bit of a wrong turn.  As the path disappeared I realised my mistake, but just then I heard the unmistakable call of a warbler up ahead.  After a moment's hesitation I decided to scramble up the steep slope amidst the birch trees to see what I could make of it.  More overcast than I would have preferred but the advantage that does bring in the woods is to reduce the contrast that can be so tricky to deal with.
The bird was pretty mobile and didn't come close too often but when it did the advantage of this site was evident - rather than my usual experience of looking up it was around eye level.  It's funny, looking at these twigs and branches the broken ends, etc make them look like props, but all were firmly attached to trees.  I have to be honest there has been a bit of twig removal in some of these shots, although only to the fairly basic extent that lightroom can achieve.

Rather than spend the whole morning on the ww I went to look at my favourite hawthorn tree, to see if I could add to the 4 species I've seen nesting there before.  Sadly no sign of anything using the holes this time.  However a few trees along a treecreeper was repeatedly working up and down (well actually up and up) an oak, progressively adding to it's beakful of insects.  I tried moving closer and it basically ignored me so I was quite pleased with the shots I got in the end, even with the green cast from the leaf canopy.

To close a few snaps of one of our local orchids - common twayblade.  I didn't take the tripod (yes dogwalking again) which was a mistake as my framing was off at the bottom, but at least it's a few in the bank as it were.

 A few more pics of the birds in the picasa web albums.