The Poser

It has been my third day back at work and I am so missing the exercise, fresh air and sunshine of last week but as the rain has let up quite a bit this evening I took myself for a quick burst down the canal towpath. There I met CJ, so called by the locals. He is the very handsome resident Cob swan on our stretch of the canal where he and his wife have set up home and raised quite a few families of cygnets over the last few years. I love talking to CJ and his three remaining sons/daughters (there were 5?). CJ knows that the locals and the narrow boat owners love him and his family and are always on hand to drop them some tasty treats. The Pen is not so amenable and glides by in her inimitable graceful way giving us her cool looks but not stopping to talk.

Amongst the usual collection of wild mallards on the canal today I saw this beautiful Mandarin duck - he is such a poser and kept showing me his best side all of the time - I have so many passable shots of him - I was spoilt for choice but chose this one as you will notice that his hackles are up as he is seeing off all the other ducks who were coming towards me in the hope of food. I am told that there are a couple more Mandarin ducks on the canal but that they don't come out until later on in the evening - apparently not as confident as this little fella.