The sun shines warmly out of a cloudless pale blue sky on 1st April,almost fooling me into believing that summer has arrived.

Every surface is spattered in brown rain drops laced with Saharan desert sand blown northwards which,together with air pollution creates a hazy atmosphere.

Nevertheless,beyond the greening line of willows,three skylarks,mere specks in the heavens filter earthwards their glorious seemingly endless songs to gladden the heart.

Red deer loaf in the grass.One or two stags retain last autumn's antlers but most now sprout short velvet covered stumps of new growth (see photo).Two stags play host to jackdaws on their backs picking off ticks while other jackdaws busily collect dead bracken to furnish nests in nearby oaks.

A couple of small white butterflies flutter past and two commas perch on a treetrunk absorbing warmth.

Down at the pond a male swan endlessly chases away a Canada goose from the island where his mate sits on eggs.

A few tufted ducks dot the surface;a pair of coots swim dragging oversized sticks to their nest at the margin and its noticeable that the usual flocks of black headed gulls,present all winter,have now left for their coastal nesting sites.

There is so much to see and enjoy in Richmond Park at this,and indeed any season of the year,the only discordant note for me at least being the incessant yelping of rose-ringed parakeets in the nearby tree belt.