Giving me the evil eye...

Probably the last warm day of the Indian summer - but the number of swans at the Rowing Lake is more consistent with mid-autumn. Swan numbers gradually build up from the end of August and today I counted over seventy, along with a considerable number of Canada geese. So many wildfowl in close proximity leads to a number of quarrels, but most of their time was spent quietly feeding on the abundant algae and macrophytes growing in the water. They slurp it up like slimy green spaghetti, and there's nearly always some dribbling involved. This cob swan seemed to be glaring at me as I documented his table manners (better viewed large).

The rest of the day passed reasonably productively. I managed to complete another report and sorted out some coats to take to the local Age Concern shop while Alex painted a couple of fence panels. Then he and Chris had a bonfire to get rid of some of the large quantity of tree prunings that he's created recently. They searched through the brash piles carefully before the fire was lit, and found several small frogs which had been using them as potential hibernation sites. There were also a great many snails, and Alex insisted on removing every one before we started! Fortunately there were no hedgehogs.