A duck at Fromebanks

Once Helena had returned from her everyday job and her first client had arrived, I headed off in the sunshine. I had it in mind to look for a kingfisher down on the river Frome or maybe even a white breasted dipper.

As it happened i saw neither as I walked along side the river through the nature reserve called Fromebanks which runs for about four hundred yards between Capel's Mill railway viaduct, where it crosses over the canal and river, and the centre of Stroud where the river runs under the A46 Bath road.

I met a man of the road with his two dogs who walked past me to sit by a camp fire in a glade by the river. One walker passed me with his bulldog carrying a branch of a tree who said he hadn't seen any kingfishers recently.

But I enjoyed the tranquil sections of the river between two areas of small rapids, where I imagine a kingfisher would try to fish from low overhanging branches. There were few birds at all, even up high where the pigeons usually flutter about. Perhaps the recent bad weather has driven the birds away to more hospitable places.

As I walked back upstream to Capel's Mill viaduct, I spotted two mallard drakes and a single hen coming downstream bobbing along on the strong flow. They stopped to nibble at vegetation on the bankside in a couple places, before heading out into the stream to seemingly enjoy the fast flow of the river, much like a canoeist might. The hen was observing me but still suddenly turned around and swam back across and against the flow of the river to a spot near me. I do love the colours of its brown feathers, which at times were totally submerged, with water running easily off is back, as the saying goes.