Little Egret overhead, mating Woodpeckers and Chaffinches with foot-fungus!!

Well it's been another week of grim weather and poor light, save for one bright day on Thursday.
  I drove through Aller Moor and photographed a hovering Kestrel, then stopped by the river where a Little Egret was fishing and stalking about the water. In sunny weather I still find these birds so hard to photograph and expose for....they are whiter than white!! 'Daz' would love to get their whites as white as the whites of a Little Egret!!  So I tried underexposing by 2 'stops' and managed to retain some of the detail in their plumage, especially when it was spooked by a Cormorant and flew straight over my vehicle!
   Earlier I had taken my lunch break at RSPB Swell Wood car-park and photographed the countless woodland birds that buzz around the trees and feeders.
  Spring is definitely arriving, as I witnessed Coal Tits and Great Spotted Woodpeckers chasing each other around and mating! Frustratingly the Woodpeckers mated just behind a branch so I only managed to photograph their entwined tails....still, we all like privacy at intimate moments so I can't blame them for their shyness...
   Something I did notice was that the woods Chaffinches all seemed to have some kind of growth/fungus growing on their legs and feet! It didn't seem to overly bother them, but didn't look very pleasant. There had been a Chaffinch in my garden with the same thing, so it seems to be a widespread problem.
   Below are some photo's from the last week;

^Above^ - The 'whiter than white' Little Egret at Aller Moor!

^Above^ - The moment the Cormorant took off out of the water and spooked the Little Egret!

^Above^ - Cormorants at Aller Moor

^Above^ - Male Kestrel at Aller Moor.

^Above^ - Magpie at Aller Moor.

^Above^ - Chaffinches with 'foot-fungus' at RSPB Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Coal Tits just after mating at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Mating Great Spotted Woodpeckers at Swell Wood, partially hidden for modesty!

^Above^ - Blue Tits at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Marsh Tits at Swell Wood, the top one has a tick on it's head!

^Above^ - Long Tailed Tits at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Robins at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Great Tits at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Great Spotted Woodpeckers at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Dunnock at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Coal Tits at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Squirrel at Swell Wood.

^Above^ - Herring Gulls at Apex Park in Burnham on Sea.

^Above^ - Woodpigeon at Uphill in North Somerset.

^Above^ - Greenfinch in my Somerset garden.

^Above^ - Goldfinches in my garden.