April is the cruellest month

It was a freezing day with a sharp north wind. The Tawny Owl made the most of a sunny interval. Two minutes later it started snowing and he went back into his hole.

A Robin fluffed itself up against the cold.

But spring is unstoppable, and there were plenty of midges for a Chaffinch ...

... a Chiffchaff ...

... and a Pied Wagtail.

A Long-Tailed Tit was also on the hunt ...

... and a Blue Tit was exploring leaf buds.

A Blackbird preferred to look for worms, which have become available again after last night's rain.

A Jay in the Flower Walk expected me to give it a peanut, which of course I did.

I never feed Grey Herons, but they still come out looking hopeful when they see someone passing.

One of the young herons was on a post at the island.

A preening Great Crested Grebe stretched its wings several times. They seem to feel cramped when everything is neatly folded, and often stretch their wings and legs.

I was wrong about the grebes under the willow having abandoned their nest. They were back on it and mating. Now that the leaves are coming out it's getting harder to photograph this nest.

So it seems that there are now three pairs of grebes on the Long Water, and another three pairs on the Serpentine. I also saw what may have been an extra single near the island, but it could have come from one of the pairs I saw earlier and flown around the back of the island.

Another Coot nest is going up just south of the waterfront at Peter Pan. It's in a small hawthorn tree that was deliberately overturned into the lake when the gardeners were clearing the scrub, with the intention of creating a nesting place. The tree has survived its rough treatment and is producing leaves.

A male Egyptian Goose attacked another male that has intruded on his territory on the Long Water, while his mate circled around quacking encouragement. The intruder dived to escape and the pair had a little triumph ceremony. When the beaten bird surfaced, the male chased him away and returned to his mate for another triumph.

I didn't find the reported Ring-Necked Ducks.

The patch of Chilean Rhubarb (Gunnera tinctoria) near the Italian Garden is coming up, and very odd it looks as its giant leaves start to expand. The thing in the middle that looks like a giant pine cone is a mass of flowers which will later develop into small berry-like fruits. Although unrelated to European rhubarb it also has edible stems, which in Chile are made into jam.