I shot this image earlier, an hour before sunset, whilst checking the cattle. The sky looked heavy, like a deluge might descend on the marsh at any moment, but it didn’t happen. The heronry was unusually quiet. Shining a torch on the bottom of the pond revealed a carpet of stationary toads waiting patiently for darkness. Shining a torch over the pond at 9pm would most likely light-up many hundred pairs of toad eyes.

The herd was content for a change; their heads down grazing. Blossom acknowledged my presence with a glance and a stifled moo or two, but the others ignored me. When I walked out of North Pond Pasture into the corridor, the cattle stayed-put; usually they moo, bellow, and  troop after me hoping for the dregs of Buttercup’s pellet bucket. Even Buttercup preferred grazing this evening.

North Pond an hour before sunset

The marsh cattle in North Pond Pasture to my right

The Swamp behind me