Whether the Weather be Wet, or Whether the Weather be Cold...

...Stover does not rest.

An early start in heavy rain, I walked around the lake wrapped up warm and dry; but the weather didn't deter the Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers that continued singing. There were plenty of Sand Martins and Swallows over the lake - even a group of Swallows were sat in a tree-top by the aerial walkway. I approached a couple of other birdwatchers who pointed out the three Blackcaps they had been watching - not my first this year, but my first for Stover.

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The rain began to get heavier as I headed for shelter in the hide. I sat with a photographer - his first visit to the park, not the best day for a first impression! He was struggling with photographing the Grebes and Sand Martins... but succeeding more in photographing the rain drops I should think! I waited til the rain had eased before heading to the centre where it was, as always, warm and dry.

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I joined Rob on another (this time, drier!) walk around the lake to fill up the feeder and open the sluice on the outlet channel - water levels were very high today! On completing a circuit I joined Laura with her primary school group on there walk around the lake. We visited the aerial walkway and saw a pair of Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few Nuthatches (though they seemed preoccupied with the three plump squirrels foraging beneath the feeder). They walked with mirrors, made smelly earth cocktails and finished by making clay faces for the trees. I ended up just as dirty as them I should imagine!

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Then I rejoined Rob for a bit of raking-up the Molinia that had been cut yesterday. The ground was nice and soggy, it wasn't long before I'd found a juv Palmate Newt in the wet grass, and then a young Slow-worm was found; my first for 2010. And a promising start to my on-going hunt for my first Adder of...well, ever!

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We broke for lunch (mmm homemade pasty, thanks Nicole!) before returning to the Molinia. Rob moved on up the fire break to cut more on the heath, we joined him with the forks and finished the day raking up bramble, gorse and heather into giant piles. The sun reared its head a few times throughout the afternoon - coats came off and cheeks were rosy temporarily, but the rain soon set in again - even a bit of hail as I was leaving in the car!