Patrol

Had my eye test this morning, at long last. Still got to wait for up to two weeks before the new glasses come and despite choosing a less expensive frame, they still cost an arm and a leg. The slightly disconcerting news was that he identified a patch of dry macular degeneration in my right eye. He said if I had been in my eighties, he wouldn't have been concerned, but at my age, it's starting early. The upshot is that I have to eat kale and/or spinach to give it the vitamins it needs to repair.

After the test, I took my little hide down to the river. There were a few gulls about and some redshank foraging at the waterline on the opposite side of the river. I saw how important the hide is in getting close to these birds, when two people appeared on the far bank - about a hundred yards away from the redshanks, but they still upped and went.

These were about twenty yards away, and while some of the shots show them looking at me (probably because they heard the shutter firing, even though it was on silent mode), they felt relaxed enough to preen themselves. I wouldn't have got anywhere near this close without the hide.

Even so, I had to crop the shots to get them to this size.

They arrived after about an hour and stayed for about five minutes before they moved off downriver. After they had gone, I had a bit of soup - and would have had a cup of tea, but despite checking carefully to make sure I had milk, sugar, spoon and the makings for the soup, I forgot to put in any teabags!

After the redshanks went, there was nothing for the next two hours, so in the end I packed up and went home, but I was pleased with the shots which I got.