As its Beltane I decided to do my nature awareness hour today. It is warm and sunny today, with no clouds in the sky and very little wind. In fact it was warm enough to have no jumper on. When I arrived there were birds singing as usual. I noticed the horse chestnut had begun to flower and many of the trees buds had burst over the past week. In fact all the trees now had leaves or the beginnings of leaves on them. Sea gulls were flying overhead and there were a few wood pigeons in the trees.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The moot swan was stood up on her nest for the first 20 minutes I was there. She was cleaning herself and then adding bits to the nest. She eventually sat down on it. I noticed that she has been alone since the first week I went out. The blue tit came to its nest box again and went inside for a long time. I saw a male blackbird and a crow/ raven/ rook (not sure which). There were quite a few small birds flying around and one was definitely a wren which was flying among the reeds. I saw a magpie and a great spotted woodpecker as I was leaving the conservation area.
Having talked to a horticulturalist, I discovered that what I thought were white blue bells last time are not actually bluebells (though the pink ones are) because they have a triangular stem. There are still some daffodils out too. There were lots of little insects in the pond and on top of it today, two of them appeared to be fighting. I saw a pond skater on the top of the pond too. There was a big bee flying around and a small one too. On the way home I saw four butterflies, two of which looked white but they were all too far away to identify them.
The sun was very bright today and I have sensitive eyes so I realised I need to bring sunglasses next time. I again forgot to take an offering too but I did speak to the nature spirits and spirit of the place. It was a nice relaxing hour and definitely felt like a festival of flowering.
A Sacred Way 
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