AN OUTDOOR LIFE

A nesting female swan at the west end of Ashford Reservoir, tucking its head into its feathers and making herself comfortable in what will be her residence for the next two months. The nest is mostly finished in preparation for egg-laying that will take place towards the end of April and is a large open bowl, lined with down and feathers and surrounded by water - as a barrier to land-based mammals.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Winter wheat growing well in the mild spring weather after a gentle winter. The lush, green shoots will be ready for harvesting in July and will produce a high-gluten, quality wheat grain, which will attract a good market price.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive" wrote Robert Louis Stephenson and if we travel hopefully in the British countryside this April we will see an abundance of white blossom in the hedgerows - the hawthorn blossom cretaegus monogyna, although known as "May Flower", has arrived. The hedges are also full of blackthorn blossom prunus spinosa. The two are very similar from a distance and can normally be identified by their off-set blooming pattern, but in these times of global warming it may be useful to look more closely at the flowers - blackthorn has firebrick-red pollen whilst hawthorn's pollen is mustard-yellow. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Sally saw a fox last night. At first she thought it was Brer Fox but then she realised that it was a real fox on a nefarious mission scuttling to her neighbour's chicken coop.i Photo © Jonathan Lewis / Getty Images Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

In the early morning flashes of white in the high branches of this tree caught my eye and on closer examination proved to be the white undersides of treecreepers spiralling up the branches and feeding off sleepy insects. These small native birds known in the country as "tree mice" can only run upwards.  Bird photo © Dominic Couzens Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Looking west towards Minehead from the New Pier at Watchet. Steeped in history both ancient and modern it was built to replace the 1862 original West Pier and Mineral Pier after they were destroyed by the Great Storm of 1900.  More recently on the opposite side of the pier, in January 2013, a baby strapped into its buggy was blown by a gust of wind into the water.  Six-month old Sam was rescued by the harbour master George Reeder, aged 63 and a former lifeguard, and made a full recovery. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

As the sun slowly sets behind Gatesholm Island and the sky darkens, this signpost starts to resemble a Christian cross. Modern pilgrims passing this way worship challenge, hedonism, reflection, insight, sustainability and technology rather than Christ and often follow the same paths followed by the medieval pilgrims on their route to St. Davids. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device