A subtle change

As the delicate pink blossoms have drifted down from the early trees and been replaced by leaves there has been a last gasp of that fresh spring beauty you only get at the very start - there is something so very newborn about the shy pink of first blossoms - the grass carpeted with petals and the last blossoms against the soft, fresh green of the new leaves. Other trees have sprouted into bloom now – the candle-spires on the horse-chestnut – creamy white or vivid cerise - and the cherry-red or creamy-white of hawthorn blooms.
The starlings have returned and the ducklings are growing apace. They have been learning to do that up-side-down thing that ducks do underwater with their tails in the air. At first I think the mother duck was teaching them, she spent more time below water and upside-down than she did on the surface. Slowly they have been catching on, but they tend to start tipping over, or disappear underwater altogether. I think perhaps they are availing of the abundant squiggling swarms of tadpoles on the pond bottom. The drake keeps watch while they eat and seldom does much feeding himself. His presence is constant now and I found out when reading up about it that he and the mother duck will have stayed together since autumn last year. I also read that the ducklings, or young ducks as they are fast becoming, will stay with the mother duck for two years before they become independent, when winter comes she will guide them along the migration routes and help them find safe places and sources of food. They are slowly getting their feathers, but still have a lot of duckling-fluff which tends to get quite wet and bedraggled when they go underwater. I still find it the highpoint of my day to watch them dabbling and diving about in the wet. They have such an enthusiasm and energy – a kind of water magic – augmented by the tiny loveliness of the little perfect green leaves of the duckweed that float on the surface of the pond and swirl about on the clear swirls of water that the ducklings disturb with such wetness and wateriness.
The transparent, almost invisible, little fish in the shallow and hidden edges of the water have become even more elusive as they have grown larger and more visibly coloured. They are lovely little things actually and one of them looked up at me out of big black eyes ringed with turquoise-blue. The very big fish continues to intrigue us. I think it is a carp. It frequently swims about in the shallow water near the edge of another part of the pond and must be about 2 feet long. Perhaps it is also feasting on tadpoles. Quite often when it swims up it is accompanied by a slightly smaller and much darker fish which swims alongside it like a shadow. It is strange to think what prompts this close co-existence as to all appearances they belong to quite different species. On the other hand it could be an elaborate aquatic courtship or some other underwater ritual that only fish know or understand. I will probably have to do more research into the secret habits of fish..... the mystery may all be unravelled next week. I hope that this gloriously sunny weather continues until then!