Walsden: Saturday 19th
The birds were singing this morning - I felt they rejoiced in the light as I walked through the churchyard by the old school - chaffinches, tits, robin and high in the tall trees the churring of the mistle thrush - a blackbird sang in the yew tree. No Woodpeckers today but the singing was rich with the promise of spring. Later I passed the pond above Longfield - a small flock of lapwing lifted off the edge, their square wings flashed in the suns pale light. Alone in the middle of the dam a male goldeneye, all black and white, moved with such grace over the water. The mallards rested by the side almost as if they were unwilling to share the water with this aristocrat.