Spilled

The pond behind the top dam ebbs and flows with the seasons. The last couple of days of rain have filled it up considerably and it's spilled into the surrounding meadow.

The main reason I'd come this way was because the stepping stones were impassable, but at least that meant I got to see a pair of mandarin ducks skulking in the undergrowth.

There were some nice bright patches of Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage along the streams (extra) and some Dog Violet along the Ladderbanks path. The first Blackthorn flowers are out.

At the main dam, a few greylag were visiting, but the cob swan wasn't too keen for them to stay and kept chasing them out of the lake. Otherwise, it was as last week: plenty of gadwall, a few goosander and a couple of tufted ducks alongside the coot, moorhen, mallard and swans.