On a grey summer morning

I had checked the tide tables and decided that this morning was the best to go and have an early walk by the Thames. So it proved. Nothing much by some other patches standards, but I was treated to 2 rare sights on mine:

The wader I tend to find the most, a Redshank at the edge of the water:

A female Mallard with 4 ducklings:

Best luck to her, she looked pretty attentive, but the odds are against her. 2 years ago one managed to raise 9 to adulthood, so you never know...