Being Good Friday, the park was packed with families and this had edged onto the lake area. There were a lot of fishermen about plus a very barky dog who was making the Canada Geese panic on both the river and the lake. The first signs of Germander speedwell are coming up:

It was very light on birdlife today - no signs of the Egyptian family, no tufties around and not much else. I can't imagine the fishermen have an effect on this especially as I tripped over some equipment and made one of them nearly fall in the lake with shock having woken him up.

I went into the park as I had dropped a friend off there with her daughter. It was very sunny and the acouti were noisily snoring in their tree-house:

The meerkats were snuffling around with the guard being very vigilant:

 

And the prairie dogs were having a good sunbathe too:

 

 

The lemurs were snuggled in together having a good wash and brush up:

And one of the wallabies was having a long drink in the water trough:

The first thing I noticed on getting out of the car was a heron sitting down on the jetty. I thought it was injured but seemed quite content and then as I got closer stood up and flew off:

The Canada Geese were also sitting enjoying the sunshine:

And a crow was enjoying an apple left behind by someone:

The Egyptian Goose couple were down by the water having a snooze but got up as I approached. There were no sign of any goslings at all so I am presuming that the family are in the Park and this was a different couple.

As I moved on, I was joined by the kingfisher who was just about to settle on a perch, saw me and did a swift right turn. The coot took no notice:

Ground-ivy was in a solitary patch in the copse and quite a large patch of summer snowflakes are just coming out:

It still looks very wintery in this area with only the snowflakes giving out any real colour. There were a lot of white-tailed bumblebees around though and honey bees feeding on the willow blossom. The cormorants were in their usual tree on the other side of the river. These were the only two I saw on the whole visit:

There were a few more wood pigeon around today, plus the chiffchaff and blackcap singing. I also heard the first grey wagtail in quite a few weeks.

The Egyptian Geese still have their full quota of babies this morning - in fact, they have been joined by one more, making a total of seven. There was a dog around the lake today so the parents were moving a lot more than yesterday which gave a better view:

It was a very noisy morning at the lake. The Canada Geese were not in their usual tight group but scattered around all of the lake and grassy areas, all of them making a real racket. They were joined by several coot joining in:

And the great-crested grebe were out braying as well, but without much luck. I haven't seen any courtship as such yet:

The tufties were sticking to the middle of the lake while all this was going on, trying to keep out of the way of all the geese:

The woods were busy as well. There is a favourite area of mine, where, in the summer, there are always chiffchaffs and blackcaps, with kingfishers and grey wagtail dashing through. In the winter it's a good spot for siskin and long-tailed tit flocks. Both were there today, the siskin being so noisy on the alders I thought that it was a nuthatch at first. There was also a lone white-tailed bumblebee on the willow pollen:

A single buzzard was soaring overhead along with the usual red kite who were displaying today:

A first for a hoverfly as well this year - eristalsis species which look just like honeybees from a distance.

It was a day of firsts for this year; the first chiffchaff I have heard this spring was in the copse by the lake and lesser celandine were out on the grassy towpath:

There was also the first family of Egyptian geese with 6 goslings, the mother sitting close by while dad stood guard:

As I was leaving, a crow was trying it's best to grab a youngster, with the male Egyptian chasing it off. I don't think it will be long before the numbers diminish as the crows are relentless.

The lake was also busy with the usual mallards who looked lovely in the sunshine:

Greylag geese joined the usual residents today:

And the Canada Geese were mainly on the shoreline grazing:

In the woods, the honeybees were busy on the willow blossom, most of them laden down with pollen. A bumblebee was also out and about in the sunshine and in the same area, tree-creepers were squeaking to each other. It's a good area for them to nest with lots of dead tree stumps and branches, so I will look for signs of them soon.

Quite a few long-tailed tits were flitting around the woodland but were too far up in the trees for a decent picture: