The spring is a month early this year. Last Sunday I bought my first icecream stick from the Helsingin Jäätelötehdas stand that had just been erected on Kaivopuisto shore. The boat bridge to Uunisaari hadn't been removed yet and one could still go for a walk on the smooth cliffs without paying for a boat.

With the early spring and open waters the migratory birds are returning in force. So far I've seen fieldfares, redwings, common gulls, black-headed gulls, common terns, tufted ducks, greater scaups, great crested grebes, barnacle geese, oyster catchers, mute swans, some hopeful sparrows in Café Ursula. And a pied wagtail.

And mallards, there always are mallards. As there are hooded crows, magpies, jackdaws and feral pigeons, great tits and blue tits.

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