Water, harbingers of spring, ducks and lichen, amongst other things.

What a change, snow all gone, sun shining, wind dropped and a feeling of spring in the air. So yesterday we set off to check out yet another stretch of water. This time it was Draycote Water, a reservoir owned by Severn Trent Water.

First impression is that it is a fair old size and at six hundred acres and five billion gallons it's not exactly the village pond. How much Scotch would you need to dilute that lot? That is if you use water in your Scotch.

Just one of the dam walls, in high spirits we strode off along it.

Pink footed geese were busily cropping the grass in a nearby field, nice change from those Canadian pests.

Does anyone know the collective noun for coots? A squabble of coots sounds about right, but these were being sociable.

The lake looks even bigger from this angle. We walked on and came across the first harbingers of spring.

It's a fair old hike around the perimeter road and when we reached this

we realised we were past the point of no return so we plodded on and were soon rewarded by sight of

a great crested grebe. Have you ever noticed how they always do that just as you get them in focus?

Then they surface right at the limit of your lens. This one seems to favour a rather Mohican interpretation of the crest. Could be this year's punk look for grebes.

Jill's eyes have certainly improved, she picked out Napton windmill on the hill top, it's only about seven miles as the crow flies.

Pochard? I have consulted my faithful Readers Digest Field Guide to Birds of Britain (1981) and that's my best guess.

Oh we were pleased to see this sign. We crept onward.

The boat club has a strong presence and you can also fish the lake, but that's only for the fluff chuckers amongst us.

Moss and lichens make an attractive pattern, that is if you like moss and lichens.

Watch this space...............