One River, My River

This is my first post of the year of the River Don. I'm hoping to make a journey over time during this year from the source to the mouth, although it won't be possible to visit every little bit of it, as quite significant parts of it are inaccessible. It starts on the Pennine Moors and flows through the heart of South Yorkshire to the Humber Estuary. It isn't the most attractive river, if I'm honest, but I have developed a fondness for it over the years, and it has the ability to surprise and delight with its urban wildlife.
Today we had some lovely sunshine, and typically, I couldn't make the most of it as I had a hospital appointment. It's coming up to 2 years since I had an operation to remove a cancer, which event triggers a number of checks and hospital visits. I didn't want to stray too far and not be able to get back to the hospital on time, so I went down to the City Centre and did a walk downstream along the river towards Meadowhall. The water was very high, and although, apart from a few black-headed gulls playing chicken in the weirs, I didn't get to see much on the river itself as many of the little islands and outcrops were submerged, there was plenty of activity along the banks, including long-tailed tits like tiny acrobats in the overhanging branches, wrens scolding each other from the safety of opposite banks and redwings feasting on the plentiful berries. There is even a tiny Nature Reserve tantalisingly called Salmon Pastures along this stretch, managed by the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. This view is of Norfolk Bridge. The higher one behind it is the rail bridge that brings trains from the North into the City, The weir is Burton Weir, one of the 5 between the city centre and Meadowhall.