A walk on the wildside in Morden Hall park is always rewarding. I’m here on a February afternoon strolling along the bank of the ever fast-flowing river Wandle.

Vast clouds of winter gnats waft up and down in mating dances, their tiny wings glowing in the sunshine.

Near the opposite bank a trout, or perhaps a chub rises and dimpling the surface, sucks in a little fly.

Barbel roach and other species thrive here but the little stickleback, tiddler of our childhood jam jar fishing days, has declined markedly in recent years.

Drifts of snowdrops line the banks alongside daffodils, a lone snowflake and emerging lesser celandine. In the trees above birds are very busy. A great spotted woodpecker flies in uttering his ‘tick-tick’ call, alights on an ash and begins slowly but audibly pecking at the bark for insects. There is no rapid drumming yet but that will come later when declaring his territory and advertising for mates.

Wrens sing lustily, very much at home in a waterside environment. A large flock of hyper-active blue and long-tailed tits move quickly from tree to tree and a treecreeper briefly alights on an oak and walks up searching for insects.

A far-reaching ‘tui-tui’ call announces the arrival of a nuthatch (pictured), which unlike the treecreeper that only walks up a tree, the nuthatch walks either up or down, using his dagger-like bill to pick off insects.

In the rough grass nearby a pair of mistle thrushes hop in lengthy strides before flying off, their elegant upright stance distinguishing them from the smaller song thrush which is less spotted with a lower profile. But What he lacks in stature, he more than makes up for in song, arguably the finest of any British bird.