… and nothing I like better than to walk the dogs, usually about 6.00 once I have fed them and the donkeys. The birds are singing, but not with the intensity of the dawn chorus, and the sun is slowly rising bringing colour to the landscape. Or the riverscape to be exact. I had just watched and listened to a fish (salmon/trout) splash as it tried to get a fly on the surface, and landed in a belly flop back on the water.

That led to a reminiscence about being aged 13 or so and fishing on the Wye near Symond’s Yet and staying in a village called Whitchurch in the butcher’s shop which doubled as a B and B. The fish would splash from morning till night with quite startling suddenness with a noise that seems to vertebrate around the wooded hillsides. Were the fish really that big? Was there so much more insect life for them to feed on (and to grow big on)? What is the purpose of life? (don’t be facile – ed.).

It was then that I noticed the brown hump in the river just close to the opposite bank. I decided it was an Otter, which was correct, so iPhone out of the pocket and filming away with the dogs being very patient seemingly also enjoying just taking in the sights and sounds. The video isn’t David Attenborough territory, and I daren’t get any closer with the mutts as I didn’t want to scare it, anyway, take a look and enjoy. Warning – viewers with an imagination deficit might find this boring. (and stop being flippant – ed.).