A Grey Day

This weekend I set my mind to a task, one that'll probably take me through til easter. The birds of fast-flowing waterways are re-knowned for their early breeding, and I set myself the challenge of watching creatures on my local river, the River Tame. This is in Tameside, Manchester, and flows from the peaks to form a confluence with the goyt before the long flow down to the sea. It is already a sizable stream where I meet it, and from an island I survey the birds on it. They are very often hard to spot in the tumbling water, but the local Grey Wagtail pair showed reasonably well, especially in the sunlight as it glinted off the crests of waves...

But they always try to get closer, don't they?

Rock climbing, grey wag style...!

... little contact call to his mate, i'm a threat it seeems...