Feeding fenzy at Stratford Park Fish Pond

I have been feeling rather subdued today. I had a nearly four hour meeting this morning about the regeneration of Lansdown Hall and Gallery.  I think my words were a bit stronger at times than I intended. But we are making good progress and there will be a change of the team in future which will mean a new approach is required.

I also began to feel the imminence of a cold, which I have been expecting everyday since Helena became sick last week. Hopefully a lot of vitamins may keep it at bay. I went to buy some more at a supermarket this afternoon and while I was there I left the car in the car park and walked the short distance to Stratford Park and then to the old Fish Pond. The river flowing down the Painswick valley feeds this large pond which was built to rear fish for the owners of the Park in the 18th century. It sits just above the site of the old Stratford Corn Mill which also had a mill pond, which was infilled in the late 20th century so that the supermarket could be built.

I wanted to use my big camera for the first time in ages and with a long lens attached I stood nearby watching the birds which congregate there. I'd hoped to see a heron which often stands on the bank between the river and the fish pond, but it was away today. Instead the gulls and the swans and the ducks fought for the food brought by the visitors to the park. I find this fighting amongst the birds rather alarming. A very young girl was also a bit disturbed by these birds, which her mother was throwing bread down for, although from what I could hear, her mother seemed to think this was all normal and they will be back to do it all again tomorrow. I won't be there.