Up Swanning

Like Swan Upping only different.

We took ourselves off to the Cotswold Water Park today, in the hope of a nice walk around lakes and the off chance of some bird photography. It's been a long time since last we visited, so we were slightly surprised by the amount of development that's clearly gone on.

While I'm sure it's a grand place for water sports and eating out and general merchandising, it did feel like they'd forgotten about the actual nature. Mind, it's a big place - maybe we just went to the wrong bit..

Footpaths, although understandably muddy, were narrow and often bard wire bordered, and if not then overgrown with bramble. Views across the water were rare without some kind of building or screening that felt designed to dissuade casual walkers.

This pair of swans were having a better time, dipping for morsels. I was perturbed, viewing the shot later, to see what looked like dust specks in the image. On checking closer they were mosquitos! The resolving power of the lens has its downsides too.

Overall we had a lovely walk in bright crisp sunshine, but it did feel like we'd driven a long way for a relatively short 7km wander along narrow fenced in tracks.