Clouds at Walthamstow Wetlands

Dear Readers, after weeks when it’s rained every single day, we’ve had a brief interlude of sunshine today so we thought we’d make the most of it, and headed off to Walthamstow Wetlands. Half of the population of London had the same idea – I’ve rarely seen it so crowded, except for during the summer holidays – but it’s still large enough to find some peace and tranquillity.

The ducks and geese are coming into their breeding plumage, and even the most apparently monochrome of tufted ducks is showing off a purple and green sheen on his head.

We’d gone to the north side of the reservoirs to try to spot the kingfishers, but yet again, no luck. Still, there were lots of other wonderful birds: some mallards were doing that ‘up tails all’ business…which reminds me! Here’s the ‘Ducks’ Ditty’ from Kenneth Grahame’s ‘The Wind in the Willows’. No swifts yet, but soon…

All along the backwater,
Through the rushes tall,
Ducks are a-dabbling,
Up tails all.

Ducks’ tails, drake’s tails,
Yellow feet a-quiver,
Yellow bills all out of sight,
Busy in the river!

Slushy green undergrowth
Where the roach swim–
Here we keep our larder,
Cool and full and dim.

Everyone for what he likes!
We like to be
Heads down, tails up,
Dabbling free!

High in the blue above
Swifts whirl and call–
We are down a-dabbling,
Up tails all.

And the Egyptian geese seem to be gradually taking over the place – they’re smaller than the Canada and Greylag geese, but ‘though they are little, they are fierce’, as they say in Twelfth Night.

I love the mixture of old and new here, like this Victorian water tower juxtaposed with the very new tower blocks.

After a most sustaining slice of mandarin and chocolate cake at the caff on the other side of the wetlands, we wandered along past the gorse – as it was Valentine’s day it was most appropriate to see it in flower, as they say ‘when the gorse is out of flower, kissing’s out of fashion’. Most appropriate, as I’ve never seen the gorse here without at least a few flowers on it.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the heron…

…and some more Egyptian geese, looking very splendid as they preened away…

There was a lovely volunteer from the London Wildlife Trust, who had her telescope trained on the island in the middle of the reservoir. There was nothing unusual, but a lot of people were learning about the difference between a Canada goose and a Greylag goose, and what a cormorant looks like. It’s easy to sneer, but we all learnt from someone, and if our parents didn’t know, who better than this person, who had tremendous knowledge, but wore it very lightly.

And finally I was struck by a row of alder trees, amongst my favourites with their cones and catkins, and a little family of long-tailed tits working through the branches.

Well, tomorrow we’re back to downpours, and a fortnight of rain is forecast, but at least we had today….