We had a nice walk round Figgate Park at lunchtime today (avoiding the rain!). I was very impressed with the duck feeding station, where, for a £1 donation, you can get a handful of suitable food to give to the ducks and other birds on the Figgate Pond.
The Mute Swans were looking very happy today with their cygnets
One of the adult swans seemed to be enjoying a spot of yoga at one pointThe Blue Tits were also busy with youngsters - the bird in the foreground below is an adult Blue Tit, with a youngster in the background. The youngster has much softer colouring and a yellow face, rather than the white face of the mature bird.
We were interested to find this Trembling Wing fly, which was surrounded by aphids. We were quite surprised that there weren't more ladybirds around, as we've seen very good numbers in the past couple of weeks and ladybirds are knwn to eat aphids.
It was lovely to see the River Water Crowfoot in full bloom in the Figgate Burn and plenty of other flowers including Forget Me Nots and Buttercups, looking lovely together**
I'm delighted to have three poems in the second volume of North of Oxford's tribute to Russell Streur, former editor of The Camel Saloon and Plum Tree Tavern.
Pleased to have a poem included in the Ekphrastic Review's selection of responses to a work by Severine Gallardo.