Siskin - March 2018

This week, the snow, frost, wind and general chilliness of previous weeks had passed us by, and while the weather wasn't completely glorious, there were a few Spring treats in store for my photo shoot on Sunday.

The first of which was this wonderfully coloured male Siskin (Carduelis spinus), perched on a rather dirty looking bird feeder in a neighbouring garden.

Female Siskin - March 2018

The female Siskin is drab by comparison, but was well camouflaged in the branches above the feeder.

Blue Tit - March 2018

The Blue Tit's (Cyanistes caeruleus) were on a mission to start nesting, with this one collecting suitable nesting material that had been caught in a hedge.

Forest Flame Flowers - March 2018

There were quite a few new blooms out to mark the start of Spring proper, with these lovely delicate white ones appearing on the Forest Flame (Pieris) bush.

Lesser Celandine Bud - March 2018

The pretty yellow flowers of the Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) plants would soon be displaying in the lawn, with quite a few buds already starting to open.

Budding Ribes - March 2018

It wouldn't be long before we had the beautiful bunches of pink Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) blooms either.

Green Alkanet - March 2018

The Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) was starting early this year, although this particular specimen had cheated, as it was growing in the greenhouse!

Pink Hyacinth - March 2018

It was suddenly Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) season, with many colours and varieties seemingly appearing out of nowhere. I particularly liked this double pink specimen...

Lilac Hyacinth - March 2018

...and this unusually coloured lilac one.

Forsythia Flowers - March 2018

Both of the Forsythia (Forsythia intermedia) bushes were going from strength to strength, with this one growing through a hedge, turning it almost completely yellow.

Common Primrose - March 2018

There were lots of new Common Primrose (Primula vulgaris) blooms, the plants seemingly undeterred by spending quite a lot of time being completely frozen, or being under six inches of snow recently.

Resurgent Camellia - March 2018

The Camellia bush was proving to be a lot more resilient than I had predicted last week, and yet more new buds were beginning to open.

Pussy Willow - March 2018

It wasn't just new flowers that were appearing. I always call these "Pussy Willow" catkins, but I have no real idea whether they are from a Willow (Salix) tree or not. The furriness of the catkins definitely makes them photogenic though.

Hydrangea Leaf - March 2018

The Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala) bush was also generating lots of new growth, and would soon be covered in leaves once again.

Leaf Lounger - March 2018

Finally, back indoors to my tropical fish tanks. Here's one of my gang of Amano Shrimps (Caridina multidentata) cleaning algae from a very slow growing Anubias plant.

So, this week I went with Siskin as my Image of the Week, mostly because it's the first decent photo I've ever taken of a male Siskin...