Time and Chance

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” ~ Woody Allen ~

Whenever I attempt to create plans and strategies to capture that special photograph…there is always other stuff along the way to provide a distraction…fortunately so, or I’d end up at the end of the day with nothing to show for my efforts…

There I was minding my own business (stalking some small bird I think) and I heard a voice through the hedge asking me if I’d captured any good pictures lately and proceeded to inform me about an osprey he’d been observing…so off I went to “Other Side” of the lake where this osprey was hunting.

On my arrival at the “Other Side” I was greeted by well bearded man waving a stick, asking me if I knew the difference between a marsh harrier and an osprey…so I knew at least I was in the right place…I had been hearing rumours but just couldn’t quite pinpoint where the ospreys were…worse than that, I am tormented by constant rumours of sea eagles too…one day…

So there were a couple of ospreys flying around, diving for fish…you get the picture, classic stuff…

As we witnessed this spectacle I heard a familiar call from behind us…which deep inside I knew but it was a considerable time since I heard this call so I had to dig deep into the dusty archives of my memory…it took me about ten minutes and a mental journey back in time along the banks of an English river before I knew it was a kingfisher…but the man said the kingfishers had died out due to the recent hard winters…shortly afterwards we were told by a couple of walkers that they thought they had just seen a kingfisher. 😉

After a while they all left and the highly observant ospreys kept their distance and as I slipped into a dream involving expensive photographic equipment I noticed this damselfly taking a break…