Nervous

It wasn't me that was nervous, I should stress - I'm no reptile expert, but I recognised this as a Grass Snake, and even if I hadn't, I was standing on a wooden platform at least a foot above the surface of the pond - but the instant it realised there was a human behind it the snake took off like a rocket, heading for a small forest of bogbean a few metres away, into which it promptly disappeared. 

Grass Snakes are good swimmers, but this one barely needed to get its underside wet, travelling easily over the thick mat of submerged vegetation. Their principal foods are frogs, toads, and newts, though they will also take small mammals, birds, and fish if they can catch them, but because they're not venomous they have to rely on speed and charm surprise, grabbing their prey and swallowing it whole. I've never seen any frogs at either this or any of the other six ponds at Cleeve Prior Community Orchard, though I daresay there are plenty there, but all the larger ponds have newts (some of them mahoosive), and at this one small songbirds often come down to the water surface to drink. This is also the pond at which I photographed a Water Shrew last summer, but I haven't seen her since, and I can only hope that the Grass Snake hasn't ambushed and eaten her.

Back at home I spent the rest of the afternoon renovating my new walking boots, which arrived back from my second day on Skomer (only their second outing) looking as if I'd submerged them in a mud pool. Given that they did such a splendid job - the only bits of me that stayed dry that day were my feet - and that they cost me half the price of a 2x macro lens, I felt I owed to myself and them to follow the manufacturer's advice (for once), remove the inner soles and laces, and subject them to proper cleaning. I fear they'll never be beautiful again, but as R said, they do now look like a serious pair of boots. Sigh.