Sparkly

With Storm Isha approaching, I'd expected that we would have to batten down the hatches and stay safely at home all day, but late this morning the sun suddenly emerged, and the urge to be out and about in it quickly became overwhelming. I decided to go to Stratford to see if the Tufted Ducks were still there, and R came along too, for company, and steps, and coffee.

The tuftie count has dropped to five since yesterday, two males having left overnight. This was a bit surprising because it usually seems to be the females who lead these little flocks, but maybe there isn't much food to be found in the river just now and they went to look for somewhere with better hunting. The remaining birds were keeping a close eye on each other, and I expect that they will leave soon as well. I spent a while trying to photograph them in the act of diving, but didn't manage any shots that satisfied me, even with a shutter speed of 1/2500 sec, so the next time I have light as good as this I'll have to try pushing it up even further.

This evening the storm tipped over our heavy wooden patio furniture, and we had to move it into the garage to stop it damaging itself or anything else. R also moved all the bird feeders and the squirrel baffle, because they were swinging around so much that he feared they might end up becoming flying missiles.