Tucking in

I met Judy for tea, chips, chocolate cake and some vole spotting at the London Wetland Centre. Every time I visit I'm hopeful of seeing a vole, but yet again they proved elusive. We did see the otters, though, who have a lovely area and were very easy to spot since a member of staff was dealing out sprats. It was wonderful to see the otters rolling and twisting sinuously under the water, lifting a paw just so in order to effortlessly grip the floating sprat. There was some more rolling after that, then, perched on a rock, the gnawing began. We witnessed several chase scenes as the sprat treats became sparse. I'm sure we watched one otter that had snapped up a sprat being squashed (sat on) by three other otters. It managed to wriggle out from under the bullies eventually.

I think this might be my last visit to the Wetlands in 2012. Judy and I had to spend a fair while thawing out in the cafe. Although the animal life wasn't abundant (apart from the coots), the autumn leaves made a glorious carpet of yellow and the shapes and colours of the vegetation in its twilight days were still a feast for the eyes.