A family portrait

They may be twins, but they sure aren't identical. There's also always one who wants to be king of the castle. Some of the lambs in the field above Arnside Tower Farm are minute and frail, these two are much more robust. The littlest of the Tree Fellas, who is a farmer's son and grandson and therefore knows about these things, told me that it is often the tiniest lambs that are the most tenacious in their will to survive - sometimes the bigger ones keel over for no apparent reason.

It was another beautiful morning. The unexpected treat was a redstart singing from the pines on the top of Arnside Knott, the first I have heard there ever. It may be a bird that had dropped in before moving on to its breeding grounds, but it was lovely to hear its nasal song.

I did my first wetland bird survey visit of the year, it looks like we may have a pair of curlews breeding, but there were no lapwings. At the other end of the day I managed an hour on the allotment, a bit more progress in pushing back the wilderness, but a long, long way to go to have it ready.