The barking duck, the enigmatic falcon and the daring dipper

I've never been barked at by a duck before. Actually, she wasn't barking at me but at the six little goosanders (goosanderlings?) she had with her, getting them all in a pack to paddle away from my threatening presence. Surprisingly gruff.

A promising weekend having turned into a miserable wet week, I was at the top end of the lake trying to assess the peregrine situation, not with much success. A single bird was evident, and I thought at first it was showing me the nest ledge, as it flew in a businesslike way across the front of the cliff and settled into a very suitable, well-sheltered nook that hasn't been used in the last four years, to my knowledge. But then it flew out again and back across to the left, where it went directly into another ideal cranny, under a sizeable rock overhang. After a few seconds, it left again, got into a contretemps with a couple of ravens and a buzzard, and departed out of view, leaving me none the wiser.

Under the dam, in the Stilling Pool, there's a dipper that has taken to diving and swimming well out of its depth and well away from the nearest rock. Since the otter, I can't walk past without scanning the water for movement, and twice now I've had a little moment caused by the ripples of the daredevil diving dipper.