Wednesday 15th June 2016, 1.40pm (day 1,756)

When are there enough geese for a gaggle? Will four do? When does a gaggle become a flock? Pictured on the canal at Hebden Bridge station this afternoon.

When are there enough geese for a gaggle? Will four do? When does a gaggle become a flock? Pictured on the canal at Hebden Bridge station this afternoon.
Part of the reason I have felt uninspired lately is that I’ve been spending too many days at home, not going out. Also that the light has been very poor — I swear we’ve had half a dozen sunny days at most since the start of November. But both of those things changed for the better this very pleasant afternoon when I managed a stroll along the canal bank. Much of the towpath is still closed because of flood damage but this section, at the Callis Wood bottom lock, is still open.
Spring has definitely sprung. These geese — pictured from about 15 feet up — were enjoying it as much as everyone else today. Particularly those of us who are having a week off work (though I’d like to get over the jet lag please).
Pictured by the canal this afternoon. The one on the right is flexing his/her muscles, or giving its wings a stretch. I don’t know if these are males or females — unlike with mallards it seems rather difficult to tell.
More greenery! More waterfowl! It may or may not rain heavily tomorrow, but after my complaints yesterday, today was a beautiful day.
So here we are. It would have been nice to get a shot of something highly significant, or a brilliant capture, to mark day 1,000 of this blog, but while a family of Canada geese is maybe not something one would expect to see in Manchester city centre, like this blog’s previous 999 pictures it’s just a scene from a life.
I don’t go out of the way to get these, anything you see on this blog is just something I have passed in the course of my day. And that’s why I’m still doing it — it’s the same impulse that has kept me writing a personal diary for thirty years, it’s the recording that is the point. Thank you for making it to day 1,000 with me — as far as I can predict, I will be back tomorrow.
As it is a nice round number, I have also updated the ‘Best of the Rest‘ and Stats pages.