Bertie, The Dapper Duck

What a lovely sight. Bertie, the dapper duck is back. Apparently (according to Brian) he has already been before this year ... it must have been at a different time ... cause I haven't seen him ... I missed not seeing Bertie and his entourage or more like harem until now ... he is normally accompanied by Gertie and sometimes even Flirty! Today, however, he was on his own, sleeping at the edge of the pool (railway side of the Lido) when I arrived. The pool was empty and the surface of the water beautifully flat ... very enticing indeed!

I had to creep up ever so slowly and softly to catch him having a snooze ...

I managed on the first shot ...

... wanting to get Bertie more full frame he inevitably woke up .... looked around...

... got closer to the pool's edge ....

and went for his early morning swim too -

not sure for how many lengths he stayed in? :)

probably for not as many as Alex did :)

Alex as always powering up and down for a total of 12 lengths ...

Mr Bubbles cut back from his mile (in march) so he could take photos too and not run out of time

Batch standing tall, sizing up the competition -

he and Sue had already been for a run around the common

Batch may be the faster runner .. which I'm actually not sure about as Sue seems to be an all-rounder... but faster swimmer than Batch she definitely is! She even plays hand tennis with Jonathan, Nick and Chris and has been known to "thrash" them :)

Sue on her first stroke after having pushed off ... again ...

she swam a total of 12 lengths today

Come on Batch catch her ... if you can...