Grey Heron sheltering from the rain

It was raining very heavily this afternoon, but I braved the weather hiding under my large umbrella to try to find my blip for the day. I'm not very expert at wielding both camera and umbrella, so I was not very good at adapting to the changing rainfall, and ended up slightly sodden... The problem was that the rain sometimes fell surprisingly sideways.

Oh well, I'm still alive. *Cough*
I went to Wandsworth Common, for a change, to see what wildlife it had to offer; I arrived at a pond next to a railway track, and was pleased to see Tufted Ducks which don't seem to visit my more regular haunt (Eagle Pond on Clapham Common). I got some nice shots of them (with their piercing orange eyes), but then spied this Grey Heron sheltering from the rain under a pretty stone bridge.
It sheltered there while the rain fell heaviest, and after the rain had eased off for a bit, it launched gracefully into the air and left the pond to see what the fishing was like elsewhere. I was moving around to the bridge to see if I could photograph it from a smaller distance, but only arrived in time to see it taking flight...
It was a pleasure nevertheless.