Heron

We were pleased that we were able to fit an afternoon walk in between repeat visits to my Editor's Mum and Aunt. We followed part of the "Bollin Valley Way", which we'd never walked on before. This waymarked path stretches about 25 miles from Macclesfield to Partington (near the Manchester Ship Canal), following much of the River Bollin, but this afternoon we only walked about 3 miles of it (to about a mile beyond Prestbury) and 3 miles back. Even in that short distance however there was quite a variety of scenery (including high nettles on a narrow part of the track, requiring care as I was wearing shorts and rolled-up sleeves - but I managed to avoid stings!).
 
I was lucky for my blip - we'd not gone far when a kind lady passing in the opposite direction noticed my camera and pointed out a heron sitting way up on the high branch of a tree on the other side of the river. Cue quick change to my longest lens and several shots. The best one technically is the main blip, but we also like the extra which shows the heron showing off, saying "Look what I can do with my neck"!