Walk to Grantchester with Richard

I met up with Richard Hall again today to bird for a few hours between classes. We walked to Grantchester, where we had lunch at The Orchard, a sort of tea and sandwich place, with cute little lounge chairs placed around an orchard. The walk there, we had a good little flock of long-tailed tits, chiffchaffs, blue tits, and a blackcap. A goldcrest was in a nearby treee, and a common treecreeper called.

Teasel

We walked along open fields, hoping for some skylarks and other open farmland loving birds. No dice, but we did have a chaffinch that I managed to snap a photo of as we sat and ate our sandwiches.

Chaffinch

The walk back was incredibly peaceful, the sun came out, warming our backs as we made our way toward Cambridge along the river. We stopped occasionally to look at dragonflies or listen to a call coming from the trees and bushes around the river. People were jumping in the water, laughing, and generally enjoying the sunshine. I really do enjoy birding here - the birds don't respond to pishing, which annoys me to no end - but besides that, I find the birds here quite charming.

Mute Swan

Banded Demoiselle

Mating Dragonflies

You can see how he's hooked in behind her eyes