Outside the pub at the end of the walk, as the stragglers rolled in, I met Nick who asked if I’d seen anything else in the Skylark field (at least three were singing). I said no, we were hurrying as late for lunch. But he and Annie had seen seven Wheatears! Anyway, apart from that major lapse on my part, it was a lovely springtime walk on a gorgeous morning, once the sun gradually emerged, with a beautiful display of flowers – kingcups (marsh marigold) beside Glebe Pond, and a mass of primroses and celandines in the lanes. Some of us had our first glimpses of House Martin and Swallow as they swooped across the first field, and Chiffchaffs sang everywhere, with almost as many Blackcaps tinkling away and Nuthatches calling. We had Buzzard and Sparrowhawk, the usual Green Woodpecker on the apple trees by the track near Failand House Farm, which then flew to a telegraph pole, and we heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker call. A couple of Song Thrushes sang, also one or two Willow Warblers, our most recent arrivals and a Bullfinch called though was not seen. Stock Dove was noted, flying faster than the many Woodpigeons, and two Coal Tits were seen on a feeder. Nick’s count was 39 species – and there were 28 of us walking. Judy Copeland