October 22nd – I’d been to see an old mate who’s not been so well of late, and came back along the canal past the new pond at Clayhanger, where a large, grumbling flock of Canada geese seem to have lately taken residence.

Oddly, they aren’t aggressive, but aren’t scared of me either, and I have to stop and actively shoo them out of the way, which they’ll com-operate with grudgingly.

They’re puzzling me a bit as all the other local geese are positively sociopathic malcontents, honking and flapping at anything that approaches.

People give these geese a hard time, but they are actually quite fascinating birds.