Swan neck

There are eight swans on the local lake and they're getting a bit aggressive among each other - chasing, biting and posturing like this. Bright sunshine opened my petals enough to drag me out with the dog but it was a trick as the cloud closed in all the time we spent at the lake, then disappeared once more as soon as we'd got back. The sun is laughing now with its hat on.

Still, that's it. The editor of Trout and Salmon magazine is thumping the table, demanding a column so a column must get done.

I've been reading Fly Fishing by Viscount Grey of Falloden. He's the one who said: "The lights are going out all over Europe" just before the start of WWI. Anyway he was keen on fishing so I'm consulting his book, trying to answer my own question: was it better in the old days? If you want to know the answer you'll have to buy the April edition of T&S (yup, written that far ahead). If I want to know the answer I'll need to wait until April too when I'm next in Scotland, unless something turns up in the next few weeks.