de profundis

 

A phalanx of ducks following me along the margin of the lake.

They quack quaintly and purposefully.

In their midst is Handsome Duck. He's a brown gingerish colour and a size bigger than the others. He can't really be a duck but hangs around with them and they accept him. I wonder is he some sort of goose.

We reach the swans who are still on the water but craning onto the bank.

I drop bread in front of them and they snatch it without leaving the lake.

The ducks have gotten very quick and very cheeky.

They seem to delight in darting in along the bank to take bread that's meant for XT, Ceecee and their seven big spaniel sized swan babies.

They wouldn't have tried it last year. I think they've learned the technique.

X occasionally snaps towards a duck who has just snatched a piece of bread from in front of him. There's not much badness in it. Just for show really. I've only ever seen him catch a duck once and I think he was more surprised than I was, and the duck was more surprised than both of us.

The seagulls are clamouring about us. They're cheeky too. One seagull lands on Ceecee's back to try and snatch her bread. That's new.

Other seagulls just hover and catch their pieces of bread from the air.

Mostly the ducks, seagulls and swans all seem to accept each other.

I'd have thought the seagulls were the most aggressive but even they seem to know they will get something and are a part of things and their turn will come.

Sometimes there's a bit of theatre when a group of seagulls will chase a single duck along the bank if she has a big piece of bread that they thought was meant for them. The wise ducks fly away at that point or lose their bread.

Back home I find an Honesty plant growing near the hedge.

These plants please me mightily because of their curious genesis, green leaves then flowers then a lovely change in the foliage which makes the plant look like it's festooned with silver dollars.

You'd never believe it unless you saw it.

The silver dollar formations contain the seeds.

How about that.

I've been wanting Honesty plants in the garden for years.

This one came along and managed to grow here without me spotting it before now.

God made the world.