White-faced Herons are frequent visitors to the local baths.
I’m sure they find rich pickings there. Why else would they choose to come back, day after day?
I see them surveying the beach, suddenly stabbing downwards. The nearby mudflats are another favourite spot.
Their fight is as quiet as it is graceful.
White-faced heron
Such elegant birds!
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Here I come….
Is that what this Heron is thinking as it contemplates take-off?
Certainly its gaze is directed towards the water. Perhaps it’s contemplating where to go to get an easy meal….Or maybe it’s wondering where the others of his species are hanging out…
Whatever the answer, his (or her) elegant pose is worth a look….
A Heron contemplates….
Though it makes swimming more difficult, and sometimes even impossible, low tide has its attractions.
There is a raw beauty in the exposed rocks, some studded with oyster shells. And something else: the graceful water birds often come to feed.
Some time ago, my visit to the river at low tide coincided with that of a beautiful, large white bird.
A welcome visitor: a beautiful Egret
An egret had landed beside a very small, quiet beach: a favourite spot for Chicki and me to visit.
Luckily, my camera was on hand!
Enjoy!
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Come on in, the water’s fine…
That’s what this cormorant seems to be saying!
Moments before, it had been sunning itself on the rusty pontoon ladder.
All alone, it took the plunge!
The water’s fine!
The sunshine is lovely, too!
There’s a pelican in the baths!
Such a rare event causes a surge of excitement!
Eyes turn towards it as folk marvel at its spectacular beauty and form.
Though it’s in the distance, you can still make it out…..
Au revoir!
There’s a Pelican in the Baths!
Is it Nessie? ( With a Bream by the tail)
Safely out of the water, throwing it up to swallow head first.
Today, I sat on a park-bench, overlooking a local river-baths: admiring the scenery. Everywhere seemed so calm, so peaceful. The effects of the recent heavy rain had kept everyone: and, it seemed, everything: out of the water.
Suddenly I spotted it: a small, intriguing head atop a long, lithe neck: steadily moving in the water. With no suggestion of a body, it was just an indistinct head and elegant, supple neck. Spellbinding!
Thoughts of Nessie flooded my brain! In the thirty-odd years I’d been a regular visitor, I’d never before spotted anything like it! It reminded me of an eerie, living periscope. And to think, only days ago, I’d been swimming in its current territory.
But suddenly, it reached the shore: and all was revealed.
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margaret lynette sharp 