Walking in the morning

Feeling fairly energetic and awake early this morning, I thought my current fitness regime would probably benefit from a walk before it gets too hot and I get too bogged down with other things, so off I went at 6.30. It was, and still is, a beautiful late Spring morning, not a breath of wind stirring the leaves, a faint mist on the lake in the valley and birds singing joyously.

The mallards were still snoozing, until I arrived

on the scene, and then they started huffing and

puffing and generally complaining about being

woken up.

And then I saw this, which seems to be a Muscovy Duck. He was awake already, but wouldn't let me get too close, so the photo (taken on my phone) is not very good.