The weather is still cooler than we would expect at this time of year. On shady spots, frost covered the grass this morning. We've been treated to blue skies and sunny weather though. I headed for the patch aiming to get to Wilmington bridge at high tide about 10am. On the way, it was obvious that Blackcap females had arrived in territories and males sung more earnestly than usual. Chiffchaffs were singing too.
In the drain, a mallard was paddling about with her 3 ducklings, one of them a different, darker tone than the others. I don't fancy their chances having seen the size of the pike in this stretch of drain.
I walked around Abbey Way. There are more works, but I manage to see two male Anthophora plumipes, and later a female on White dead-nettle.
At the cemetery, I see the pair of Bullfinches, chomping on cherry buds quietly. A Stock dove calls.
At the river, two Redshank fly by towards the roost site.The tide is almost high. One of them walks about nervously on the usual site, but the others have gathered a bit lower downstream. The spot is quite hard to photograph even from the other side of the bridge.
As I walk on the bridge, an engineer is around and I ask him is a barge is coming. He says he's about to do some maintenance, and remarks that the bridge needs some. Yes, a lick of paint I say. He mentions that a few decades ago, when the bridge was manned all the time, hanging baskets decorated the bridge and there was a garden and an allotment on each side. He has a theory that the Redshank are breeding under the bridge, as every time he opens the bridge they move on.
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