The weather remained perfect for ducks and imperfect for cameras. I returned to the duckpond where I discovered that the Egyptian goose is all alone. It was at my eye-level, stood on one leg atop a redundant architectural feature. I left it in peace. A large flock of Canada geese was round the corner honking on the grass and shitting on the footpath and on the other side of the pond a duck was quacking so I went to investigate. There is a risk of anthropomorphism here but I would say that Mrs Mallard duck was agitated. She had a brood of four tiny fluffy ducklings and no Mr Mallard duck anywhere in sight. The children were excitable and all over the place and their mum seemed to be having great difficulty in keeping them close. I felt very sorry for her. Then along came a pair of Canada geese with their brood of seven well behaved goslings and they seemed to be flaunting their good parenting skills at the single mum.

When I arrived back at the house a fox was lying on the lawn in the manner of a Trafalgar Square lion so I tiptoed upstairs to open a window and get a clear shot. Not a bit of it! One slightly out-of-focus shot and then the sound of the camera shutter disturbed the animal and off it slunk at speed.