Hard Hat Required!

Awoke this morning to a sprinkling of snow (thought Spring was supposed to be here now?), so I thought I'd go back to Knocksink Woods to see what was around.
Along the main walkway leading up to the woods, the gorse was in flower, which looked a bit odd as it was also covered in snow!

Upon entering the woods it was all very picturesque, the sun was shining through the trees which was lovely....... until your head got battered by the clumps of melting ice/snow falling from the trees :-(
As the title says, hard hats were needed!

I sat by the river for a fair while hoping to see something, maybe a Dipper but the only thing that made an appearance was a Wren (not that there's anything wrong with Wrens of course!)

There were plenty of Coal Tits & Great Tits flitting about in the tree tops but none stayed still enough for me to focus on them.

I also realise that I have new found respect to anybody that photographs Treecreepers! How do you do it? The photo below shows my attempt..... if you look behind the branch that's in focus, at the small blob on the trunk, that's the Treecreeper (okay stop laughing now!)

I may have to add that challenge to my wishlist, to try & get a decent shot of one this year!

All in all it was quite a nice walk through the woods, apart from the ice attacks from above! And on the way back along the pathway, something small was flitting around the gorse, which I think was a Goldcrest, it was certainly small enough to be one!
Again, the photo isn't the best but it was moving around quite a bit!

Came home and put out yet more food for the birds, also spotted this fella casing the joint!

That's the first Collared Dove I've seen around this area, maybe he'll (or she) venture down into the garden later.