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We dodged the April showers (the French call them “les giboulées de mars” – they must happen earlier in France) on our morning walk around our local park.

From April showers to spring sunshine

The birdsong was magnificent but, although we spent quite some time trying to spot the originators of these beautiful sounds, we spotted only a few birds. The noisiest of them all seems to be the blackcap and we saw both a male and a female. We are getting better at identifying birds by their songs and calls and we can certainly now recognise the noisy and gregarious long-tailed tits as they dart about in their small excitable flocks. There were very few ducks on the lake (clearly, like us,  sheltering from the rain). What is strange is that we haven’t seen any ducklings here this year whereas just across the road at Duchess Pond in Stoke Park there have been many.

Male blackcap

Female blackcap

Long-tailed tit

Despite the rain the park was looking very pretty as the ramsons (wild garlic – allium ursinum) have joined the bluebells and there was even some very attractive greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea).

Ramsons

Greater stitchwort

Bluebells (proper jobs – not the Spanish invaders!)

Grey wagtail on the weir

Woodpigeon looking very much at home in the greenery of the park

The swans seem to have displaced the grey heron from its perch by the lily ponds