Down at 'The Ocean' on the Stroudwater Canal

I went looking for a kingfisher to photograph this afternoon, but as usual failed to see one. My chosen spot had been rather ravaged by the renovations to the Stroudwater Canal at Ryeford, and all the birdlife seemed to have disappeared.

So I drove a mile further west towards the River Severn where the land is flatter to an original harbour area on the canal which is called 'The Ocean'. It was a place for boats to turn and moor but after thew canal went into decline and eventual closure, it became silted up. The main railway line running north from Bristol to the Midlands and the north west of England was upgraded in the 1950s and a new bridge now blocks the canal.  It needs replacing to enable the eventual re-opening of the canal from Stroud to the main waterway network, which hopefully will happen within a few years.

Today it was a delightfully peaceful scene with lots of ducks and coots preparing for spring and the mating season.  The swan in my picture  cruised up under the bridge towards the old St Cyr's church on the bank of the canal beyond the newly upgraded swing bridge, which was built as part of the first stage of the canal redevelopment.

I watched the swan return to an island in the middle of 'The Ocean' where it waddled up onto its nest that it is building amongst the reeds. It then spent a while preening itself and followed that with incredibly vigorous shaking of its long neck. When I looked at my photos I saw that there is a long trail of spittle, or something like it ,which it seems to be trying to shake off itself. I've added an 'Extra photo' which shows it doing this, whilst standing on its nest, something I've never seen happen before. If you can enlarge the picture you will see it.