Springing into May

It's nearly the end of April already. It seems hard to believe, but this year is just flying by. We've had ups and downs, the latter being we still haven't made progress on getting the Hennie Ha fixed. I won't dwell on that as it's too painful a subject at the moment.

On the plus side, spring is here and we've had some beautiful weather to welcome it in. Easter was the hottest ever with temperatures in the mid to upper twenties and dawn to dusk sunshine; the blossom has been blooming and the flowers everywhere are too lovely.

But what do I really like about spring? Well, it's water baby time again. As many of you know I have a fascination for water birds and love watching their activity around the harbour. Very soon now, the mother ducks will start appearing with their little balls of darting fluff, otherwise known as ducklings. I just love watching them from the back of the boat; we all do in fact and Mum trades on our softer sides by bringing her brood around the barges, safe in the knowledge we'll feed them.

Then there's our resident swans, two of which I saw in a bit of love play in the harbour yesterday. It was an amazing pas de deux that culminated in them apparently feeding each other, which I found really touching. I've never seen a swan mating dance before, and it was quite mesmerising. At first I thought they were fighting, but the strange, rather fluid and quite graceful movements made me realise this was something else and much more intimate. I'll look forward to seeing their babies too in due course.

Mating swans: photo Margaret Hoey

Later on, we'll have the coot offspring as well. I expect I'll need to share my rowing boat with them again, as Mr and Mrs Coot always seem to think it makes a good birthing place. I love the way they collect all sorts of debris from the water for building their nests ... the coot version of a stately pile ....which the father coot defends with the dedication of an Arthurian knight protecting his castle.

A baby coot, such adorable little bundles

But is there anything I don't like about spring? Well, only one thing, and that's the seed pods from the surrounding trees that fill the harbour and fly into the barge when I have the hatch open. We all have hay fever as a consequence and I spend the rest of the year finding the seed husks in corners of the barge I can scarcely believe they've reached. That said and sneezes, wheezes and coughing aside, it's a small price to pay for the rest of the pleasures of a sunny spring day, isn't it?

Have a good week allemaal and I hope you are all enjoying the changing seasons wherever you are.