Martins and kingfishers

Cycling back from work on the 1st April, a fairly cold, windy and somewhat showery day I realised that the two birds flying around Willen lake were martins. I didn't get the chance for a close look but presume they were house martins (although there are sand martins around there too, I believe). I couldn't help but think what a cold miserable day for them to turn up (assuming they had just got here). Imagine it. You are in Africa and decide to fly however many miles it is (a very long long way) to spend summer in the UK and you arrive in cold, wintry weather. However, there was certainly some suitable food a few days ago as the flies were getting into my eyes.

I felt really blessed at the weekend to see not only one but two kingfishers! One down on Bury Meadow, closish to the town on Sunday afternoon and then again yesterday morning just past where the rivers come together I saw another. Both were flash by's, really. I hung around having heard that sometimes you see the kingfishers again on their return flight (depends whether the first one was going or coming back I suppose...) but no luck. But I did see a crow fishing. It might not have been fishing for fish, but it was perched in a tree above the river and every so often it flew down to the surface of the river, its legs just touched the surface and it picked some food up from the river surface with its beak. It looked like bread, and it took it back to eat. At first I wasn't sure about what I had seen but I watched again and it was definitely able to take food from the river. I was reminded of the crows I saw in North Wales (in the Foryd, Caernarfon) that were dropping mussels on the road to crack them. Very clever birds.