Not an Otter Spotter....

Today was Spring-like..  Days like these should not be wasted!

I'm coming to the end of a 2 week period of annual leave from work and although I have completed a lot of tasks in the new house, plus run and cycled a few times, I haven't had any days out with the camera - apart from a morning in Romsey and the New Forest last Monday.

The weather has been 'temperamental', but in previous years I would have at least been to the coast or Blashford once or twice in these two weeks..  The lack of outings probably has a large amount to dp with the fact I'm not Year-Listing this year. It shouldn't do, (and I'm not sure I should admit this publically) but when year-listing  there is a slight addiction to spot birds either before they leave us after their winter stay, AS SOON as they arrive for the WHOLE of Summer, or spot stuff that gets a bit lost in their journey from A to B, where ever A and B may be..
Any way the wind blows - as Freddie once said.

A tick is a tick after all - and they all add up.

So, not wanting to waste any of the rare sunshine, I decided to pop down to Andover this afternoon and see if the Otters were out.. If not, I'd still be sat by a beautiful lake in the sunshine. A win / win situation.

Fortunately for the Otters, they had a very nice sleep this afternoon, but there is always something to see at Rooksbury. Perhaps in 'Ant & Dec' style -  the Otters couldn't be bothered to come out today, so sent their Little Otters...  in the form of a Water Vole. Honestly, I haven't been drinking..

So yeah, today's photographic subject were Water Voles.. One in particular who was eating along the river bank and running in an out of holes by the fast flowing river. He posed nicely a few times too.  

 

The other win was a slightly sun-burnt face, or was that wind-burn?..  Roll on Summer! (or at least Spring)

And here is a Hawfinch from last week.