Ruffled Feathers

I was determined to get out today. I went down to the River Don in the city. The water was very high and fast-flowing so much of the land normally available to birds was under water. Many of the usual inhabitants of the area were perched on the walls. The "island" which is normally alive with assorted bird life had shrunk to a fraction of its normal size and had only one inhabitant today.
As I walked by the walls which retain this part of the river, I met a man who was looking for goslings. He feared, probably correctly that they had been swept away by the swollen river.