Today, in Halifax Town centre in the bright sunshine, I watched the stream as I often do. Grey wagtails are common there , Mallard and Heron also visit, once trout were a common sight in the water, on one occasion a roe deer!
What I often see are the dippers and again I saw one this morning as I parked for work.
This lunchtime I saw it or another yet again, this time with nesting material in it's beak. I moved carefully so only the top of my head showed above the parapet, and waited.
The bird bobbed up and down on it's rock, looking around, then it flew to another stone nearer to me , it paused longer this time, bobbing all the time, looking all around, the sun was hot on my back, then it flew again, a rock out of my sight, but moments later I saw it fly upward to the large hole in the bank, way above the water level, that I had noticed earlier.
I waited and in a few moments it emerged without the grass moustache it entered with, later I saw it fly downstream, zipping past my new watching place.
I have observed the dippers in the past flying upstream into a tunnel, I wonder if tuesday's rain flushed that nest away and they are now trying a less flood prone site.
I will spend more lunchtimes watching!