Swanning about

After a day of struggling to do statistics with one of my head/neck/jaw aches that drugs don't seem to touch, I took myself off to Petersfield Heath this evening to see if that helped. It did. It was so nice to be back there again for the first time in ages, the first time this year, in fact; very unusual for me to not have been there more.

Anyway, it was a nice, sunny evening and there were lots of people about: parents wearing out their kids before before bed, anglers, joggers, dog walkers, and a few photographers. I spotted one grebe and hopefully this means there's at least one other around and maybe some reed dancing in the offing. And there was a lot of swan activity with several males pursuing reluctant females across the lake at high speed, three flying low above me (the sound of their wings was amazing), one who was flying multiple solo laps of the perimeter of the lake, and this one sitting contentedly in her nest. The nest is in a similar place to last year and is well-screened, which is a good thing as a dog caused the expectant parents some distress last year. There has also been some general tree clearance around the lake and the terrapin colony area is now very open and easy to see. I didn't see any terrapins this evening, mind you, but hopefully they'll be back basking in the sun next time.

I enjoyed my stroll so much I did a second lap and I was stalking a swan from the trees towards the end of the loop when a pigeon above me pooed on my head. I understand this is good luck...