A Canal Visitor

I did a lovely 4 mile walk today with friends along the canal from Leighton Buzzard to the Three Locks Pub, with a nice pub lunch as our reward.

Whilst there are always ducks on the canal, we haven't spotted the breed we saw today before.  It looks like a bedraggled mandarin duck, possibly in moult?  I thought it had a very cute face though!!!

"If you keep your feathers well oiled the water of criticism will run off as from a duck's back."
Ellen Swallow Richards