The Heron’s dived in the pond…

Really? The Heron can’t dive, it can fly, so it can fly out of the pond. What’s the problem?

My lack of interest revealed a communication issue. On further investigation I discovered it was our heron, which had quite happily swan-dived into the pond. Not easily or simply recovered because in our previous life in Winchester a large and weighty chicken sat on his beak as he overlooked a similar pond. The whole sculpture is made of lead, a dense material but very malleable, especially on a hot day, so from that point onwards he had a permanent droop, which if we tried to correct would snap!

And so it came to be, the repair of which used a broom stale to connect the two pieces. Recovering the base was easy, the body was obvious but where was the now detached beak and head? Buried somewhere in the silt and clay which needed my waders and arm length gloves and a rake and a serious dose of fluke to locate.

Success!