We’ve been out for the day with my parents today. We met them in a small village just outside Henley and walked for several miles along the Thames path, with the prize of a very nice pub lunch part way along the walk. Thanks Mum and Dad.

The Thames path is a strange place, a mix of farmland and old houses oozing both charm and money. You see as you walk, cows in the fields alongside exquisitely beautiful houses, most of which are several hundred years ago, with Mercs, Beemers, ‘Chelsea Tractors’ and (some would say) better parked outside. Many of the houses were not really intended to be the playground of the rich when they were built – they were farm houses and workers cottages – but they have been bought and ‘gentrified’ by people who want to live by the river, think of Jerome K Jerome or Wind In the Willows while planning what to do with their loads of dosh. The trouble is, what this means is that many have been extended like topsy, with the only consideration being to make them bigger, not to preserve the aesthetics of the buildings at all. There are miles and miles of properties along Berkshire’s Thames frontage just like these. Some though, were built as lavish homes for the wealthy and it shows – wow, what beautiful places.

But despite the ‘other half’ ostentatiously displaying their wealth to walkers and other river traffic, it is still an amazing place to walk. The countryside is lush and the river wide and deep, though I know by USA standards, it’s really just a trickle compared with the mighty Hudson. Also despite the fact that the river is developed along most of its waterfront, it still retains some fabulous wildlife.

Today we had the privilege of seeing a Kingfisher – I have only ever seen ONE of these lovely little birds before and that was twenty-odd years ago, on (of all places) the Ouse, the main river flowing through York city centre and I saw it in as urban a landscape as it’s possible to imagine. This time, I saw a Kingfisher in a completely appropriate setting, sitting on a post at the Thames’s edge. Wonderful.

Sometimes, I think that the animals and birds we encounter are just as curious about us as we are about them. These two geese were ‘travelling’ with us as we walked along the path. They were certainly engaging with us, coming near to the bank looking for food from us. They were engaging with Rosie and Archie too – Rosie isn’t in the slightest bit interested in animals and birds – all she wants to do is to play with Archie.

Archie on the other hand wants to engage with birds very much and after a mile or so walking along, with the geese coming ever closer to the shore and chattering to Archie, he decided to jump in and go and see them. He launched himself off the bank of the river, with a huge splash and started a frantic doggy paddle towards them. He’s a great swimmer (for a dog) and loves nothing more than to be in the water.

Compared to ducks and geese though, he’s a completely graceless novice and they are in a different league. All of a sudden, the geese got nervous and decided to depart post haste. Possibly they simply didn’t want to be associated with a floundering, wet dog! They were never in any danger from Arch, being easily able to out-swim, out-fly and outwit poor old Archie, but I liked this pic of them scrambling to avoid his advances.

No – they weren’t protecting young and no, they weren’t sitting on eggs….believe me they were in no danger whatsoever.

Arch is now asleep on his bed, dreaming of geese and swimming. Rosie too snoozes next to me.

I’m off to cook supper.

Last year, I was making progress with 'Ten Songs that Changed my Life' - doing no 6