6th April

A walk down to see how Mrs swan was doing revealed another surprise today. Two of the ducks have mated and were guiding four little ducklings around the pond. They look to be only a few days old. As I was approaching the ponds I had noticed a bit of squabbling between two big black backed gulls, apparently one had just 'snatched' what was a fifth duckling. I also found out they originally had seven babies but two disappeared yesterday. Let's hope these four survive. Below are some more photos of them. My blip for today was also a shot of three of the ducklings, click the date to see that one, 6th April.

Mrs swan was sitting very comfortably on the nest so no sighting of her eggs, Mr swan was close by keeping a watching brief.

Elsewhere this little robin looked a little put out that I had disturbed his lunch and alighted to this tree branch with a beak full of bugs. Was this his lunch or is he also feeding nearby young ones. Nature is certainly letting us know that spring is here, even if the weather isn't so obliging, can't believe that last week I was wearing shorts and t-shirt.

My last two photos below are also signs of spring but for very different reasons. The lovely blossom a sign that this tree is coming back to life. Whilst the appearance of the road train signifies the arrival of the holiday season.