A heron with its mouth full

I really wanted to explore the eastern end of the Stroudwater canal where the ongoing regeneration started a couple of years ago.  I drove to St Cyr's, the parish church for Stonehouse, which is the small town just to the west of Stroud, parked by the large cemetery and wandered a few hundred yards along a footpath until I arrived on the north side of the canal.  

A new swingbridge has been installed ready for when the boats treturn hopefully within a few years, once the next stage of the regeneration is commissioned as far as Saul Junction where the canal originally joined the Sharpness to Gloucester canal.  

I stood for a long time just revelling in the wide open spaces and the quiet expanse of small fields, strips of woodland and views to the distant steep escarpment of the Cotswold hills.  Then I walked beside the large turning area of the original canal basin called 'The Ocean' which is still rather silted up and full of flowering water lilies and reeds along its edges.  As a result there was plentiful wildlife with coots, moorhens and ducks all with young, as well as a pair of swans and their six cygnets.  Sparrows were wallowing in the dust on the footpath.  I walked to the end of the canal where the new railway bridge blocks the line of the canal and needs to be replaced.

There I spotted this heron on the far side standing in the reeds.  As I raised my camera to photograph it, it suddenly plunged its head straight down into the water and after about a second it stood up straight again and started to swallow its meal, marked by the bump below its mouth as it tried to swallow. I have added the picture of its head splashing down into the water in my 'Extra photos'.

You can also see a picture of two swallows as they emerged from their dip into the canal water to have a wash, all done at high speed.  A flock of swallows appeared suddenly as I had walked a,long the towpath back towards Stroud.  I have often seen swallows doing this behaviour but hadn't managed to catch an image of it until now.  I could have stayed there for hours, but needed to do some shopping.  As it happened within a few minutes of leaving a rain shower started and then it turned into a period of heavy rain so my timing was good.