In the April mini-heat wave I'm in Morden Hall Park where the sudden warmth has caused the trees to burst into leaf.
I'm walking on a carpet of lawn daisies, such undervalued little flowers subjected to much trampling but seemingly resilient and springing up again.
Defying gravity, poised in mid-air just above me is a hoverfly (pictured), its rapidly whirring wings creating a hazy blur of reflected sunlight. Such a beneficial insect is the hoverfly, a true gardeners friend as its larvae consume vast hordes of unwanted aphids and greenfly.
Birds are very vocal. Woodpigeons coo their soporific summer song in the treetops. Two wrens, a species that revels in a waterside habitat compete with one another, their songs so loud for such tiny birds.
Blue and great tits sing as do a chiffchaff and willow warbler. A nuthatch pipes up and in the distance a great spotted woodpecker drums loudly on a hollow bough proclaiming his territory and advertising for a mate.
Its like listening to an avian choir combining melody with percussion.
A crow with a beakful of nesting material flies by as a blackbird probes for worms and the first of the jackdaws, probably unmated birds speed above very early to roost.
A small white butterfly flutters by followed closely by another and later, an orange-tip and holly blue brighten the afternoon.
A heron stands motionless above the Wandle water wheel but with little hope of catching a fish in the rushing torrent below. Under the bridge shoals of chub nose into the swift current flanked by a large barbell.
So much to see and listen to on a beautiful vibrant April afternoon.
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