It was cold and frosty in the Parks this morning. I walked the long way round to work, through Parson's Pleasure and along the arm of the Cherwell that runs behind St Catherine's; in Parson's Pleasure, I startled the heron that perches near the rollers. It flapped across the river and settled in a fallen tree on the other side where it sat looking cold and grumpy.



I think this is probably one of my favourite photos I've ever taken.

This picture, taken on my walk at lunchtime, is not a particularly good photo, but on the other hand, it is a photo of OTTERS which makes up for a lot.



I was walking along the riverside path when I spotted them splashing on the far side. There are two in the photo, though I thought there might actually have been three of them. I was standing there with my camera (having for once remembered that switching it to continuous would be the sensible thing) when an elderly man who was sitting on Tolkien's memorial bench with a small white dog asked if it had a zoom, because there was some kind of mammal on the other side of the river. I said I thought it was an otter, and we both watched them for a few minutes while lots of other lunchtime walkers passed us, entirely uncurious as to what we might be looking at, and totally unaware that they, too, could have been watching otters.

I nearly went back to sleep for an hour instead of going for a walk this morning, but I'm glad I didn't, as I saw not one, not two, but three otters in the canal. And unlike the first time I saw them, I had enough wits about me to remember that my camera also shoots video, and also has a good zoom, so is definitely a better option than my phone.