A male Kingfisher is sitting on a fence post, preening in the early morning sun, until something in the water below catches his attention. After bobbing his head a couple of times, he slices through the lake surface and emerges with a silvery prize.

A squadron of Swifts skim across the water’s surface, calculating their sipping flight-path with jaw-dropping accuracy. It’s these I was hoping to see this morning – the Kingfisher was an unexpected bonus. I’m conscious I need to gorge on Swifts before they disappear south in the next few weeks, and I watch them for a while, enjoying the sky-bossing antics of the absolutely birdiest of all birds. 

I managed to get myself out early this morning to South Norwood Country Park, one of the best spots for blue therapy in south London.