The past few days here have been unseasonably
nice weather and the wildlife in and around the Ponds is definitely perky. The
plant life too is enjoying the sun.
On my walk this morning, I noticed that most of the trees have new leaves showing
and the cherries are magnificent, but the magnolias hereabouts are looking a
little blousy. The heaps of scarlet petals beneath the large rhododendron
reminded me that it has been offering its wares to the insect world for over a
week now. Bluebells are flowering too.
Several
pairs of Canada geese have little troupes of goslings. They swim in line astern
with the little ones paddling as hard as they can to keep up. Too early for
ducklings yet, though.
The
ospreys are back to serious nesting. The female is getting pretty raucous calling
to her mate when she spots him coming back from the river. He clearly hadn’t
brought anything back this morning as she kept giving him a piece of her mind
for several minutes after he arrived.
The
turtles are out in force keeping the cormorants off their logs. They were out
very early today with their shells turned towards the sun. On my way back they
had all shuffled round to follow the sun. With dark shells, it must get pretty
hot inside. Perhaps the least perky pond life on show.
