...and back

 

I set off early from Brandon in case the odd woman comes along asking if I have read the pamphlets from the Jehovahs Witness (I haven’t).  The morning is sultry and insects dance along the surface of the water.  My travelling companion takes over the steering and I get a rare chance to sit in the bow of my boat when it is moving.  It is very quiet, the engine bumbles away discretely in the background, the water laps against the hull, the foliage floats passed.
 

Highlanders in the lowlands

I have my new camera ready to record the wild life.  The helmsman diligently slows down when passing moored boats but speeds up when there is a photo opportunity. There are countless kingfishers, more in a few miles of river than I have seen all year, a pair of egrets fly ahead, there is a marsh harrier and there are herons galore but none of them stand still long enough for me to be able to photograph them.  The only living thing I manage to photograph is a sedentary cow. I’ll never make a wild life photographer I have neither the speed of reaction nor the patience to wait in the right place. In future I’m just going to take pictures of buildings, they might not be as interesting but at least they don’t go flying off just when you’re about to click the camera.