Sunshine, no showers, happy times

It’s been a lovely, lovely week, and the park is full of baby birds, so I’ve been out for a walk every single day. The little horror of a gosling that I had to rescue when he’d been kidnapped by a crow is doing well, and so are his brothers and sisters. The mark on his neck is healing nicely, and he now has little stubby wings and is learning to arch his neck and hiss just like his Daddy. He and the rest of the family don’t hiss at us, so we’ve been hand feeding them, which is something very special.

I ended up breaking up a fight between two ganders on Thursday. I’ve written about fur flying a few times, but their feathers literally were flying everywhere while they pecked each other and went for each other’s necks. I don’t understand why other people just stand and watch, but I told them off and then found a small fallen branch and tapped them lightly on their wings when they wouldn’t stop, even after I’d pointed out that they were setting a bad example to their goslings. They stopped fighting then and turned to hiss at me in unison, so I told them that they needn’t think that was going to work on me, and they walked off while trying to pretend that they hadn’t been doing anything. I know they don't understand what I'm saying, but they do understand my tone of voice and all those years of being a mum leave habits I don't want to lose.

I got a hug from a lovely Polish lady afterwards who’d seen me tacking the crow too, and she told me I was brave and kind, which are two things I try to be. We chatted for a while and I saw her again on Friday, and we did the same, so I hope that I’m on my way to making a new friend. That’s one of the things that I love about the Park and Harbourside and the conservation area where I live, because it reminds me of something I once read about how if you want company as well as exercise, then you need to walk your dog every day at the same time, whether or not you have a dog! Then you say hello and something banal about the weather, and before you know it, your walk takes much longer because you stop to chat and make a fuss of a dog or walk alongside people.

Being part of a community also means that you hear such interesting stories. For instance, my daughter was admiring the beads they sell for making lures for fish at the bait shop (sorry to the fishermen because I know that’s not the right word) while we were buying the first ice cream of 2025. He ended up telling her about how he’d bought a big box of children’s beads in a discount shop after Christmas and made strings of pretty coloured beads to go all along his boat. He uses some for lures as well and, as he said, they were no worse at catching fish than the other sort, and he liked ‘em. So obviously we went to have a look at his boat while we ate our ice cream. (That was salted caramel for me and old-fashioned Strawberry for my daughter from the New Forest Ice Cream company, and it was lovely.) I didn’t admit that I don’t like fish to look like fish so mine is usually breaded or battered, but we’re hoping to go and see the puffins on Dancing Ledge soon, and that will be every bit as lovely as it sounds.

It’s a bank holiday weekend, so I’m trying to make it different from usual work days. In practice, that means spending time sorting out the garden and planting some Oxalis Iron Cross bulbs. These are like four-leafed clovers, and I first saw them in Wales when my husband wasn’t expected to live. I loved the idea of growing my own luck and we definitely needed all the luck we could get, so I’ve had them in the garden ever since. They can be short-lived because they don’t like cold, wet winters, but they’re not expensive, and who doesn’t need some extra luck?

I’m definitely wishing for that for you till we meet again on Tuesday, and today’s photo is of two rather gorgeous jet skiers. Yes, he is taking his top off, so aren’t I lucky that I live in a place with such a good supply of hero material? And I have to look so I can share it with you, don't I?