A walk by the river

Not  lot to write about today, but I’m hooked on this now and just don’t feel right unless I get some words down on the screen Pretty warm again today and I had a very nice walk at lunchtime along the walkway along the edge of the Thames. The river always looks muddy no matter who the tide. It is supposed to be cleaner now than it has been in many many years Saw lots of runners and almost go run over by the odd one. Don’t totally agree with running in this heat. But lots do seem to do it. Earlier in the season I spotted a couple of pair of grebes that had laid an egg or two. I spotted one of them turning their eggs one day which proved that at least on of the pair were sitting on eggs. Since then I’ve spotted an adult pair with two chicks. The reason I write is that today I saw what I thought was a courting pair so I stopped to watch, hopeful to see the wonderful mating dance. I soon realised that I was looking at a disgruntled par of grebes. As one paddled toward the other, the other backpedalled away. I’ve never seen a bird do that before and it looked quite funny. I could see its webbed feet working furiously. Then suddenly with a flurry and splash they were gone underwater and away under the reed beds. I never saw them come up though.