Daynight
The move into summer time affects winter. Winter was an hour before, and the switch to summer time pushed dark forward too- allowing winter to hang on that little bit longer.Where it had been dark at 5am, it became dark at 6am. It will take a while for summer daylength to capture that change.
In the dark my friend was absent- the floodlights of the hotel by the meadow have been switched off, so that there is no glare or shadow either.
Hormones are clearly surging: the eyot bird list for the morning got to 22 species, when true winter might get to 3-4. There are the seasonal cross-overs: cormorants appear in late winter, and will remain until mid spring before departing. In the meantime, they hang around, seemingly like Snoopy, waiting.
Spring is here in the aggression of the swans. The pair nesting on the end of the eyot are old hands, and are territorial. The male slipped into the water as the herd of 23 appeared through the bridge arches 200m away. Fluffed up, and twice the apparent size, the male slid his way downstream. At a ratio of 23:1, he should have been outfaced, but all 23 took note, and gently switched direction, so that by the time the 50m threshold had been reached, honours were even. Had the 23 really been intending to aproach the eyot? of course not- or perhaps maybe. Nobody was admitting anything.
Back on the eyot, the male Cetti's had been working hard , singing to cement his territory near a willow and ash: a place that never seems to vary in song- though the silent bird does move up and down the river's edge.
As the light kicked in, so the blackbird and song thrush ebbed, and tits took over, and the grebes continued to display. Day and night are different.