Coming and going

The family of five cygnets have left the Relief Channel for now. My guess is that dad has reconnoitred a beet harvest somewhere and taken the family to gorge on the discarded beet tops. I expect if I were to drive down towards Welney they would be in a field mixing it with other mutes and Bewicks and whoopers, filling their tummies. Meanwhile another group of swans has taken their place on the Relief Channel. 
In the background over by the tidal river you can see a digger at work. It's a very large digger capable of working on land and in water. It has a long reach and a huge bucket which is being used to scrape silt from the river  bank to keep the river clear and help prevent flooding. 
The van in front of it is a 'mobile welfare' van with a very bored first responder stationed to keep an eye on the digger driver. An exceedingly boring job but necessary under health and safety rules. When I passed them I knocked on the van door and a young girl opened it to ask what I wanted. "Tell yer man if he sees a lens cap in his bucket I dropped one down there last year so it's probably mine." I said. 
Luckily she had a sense of humour ;-)