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I heard the flap of wings hitting the water. A quick look left and right, scanning the road for cyclists – a rush across the road to the river and snap, snap, snap, in the viewfinder. How quickly they sped past.

It’s funny how much one takes in in a second. I could see the skiffs and I could tell that the swans had been disturbed by the rowers sculls hitting the water.

I could see ripples and the splashes on the water, and the take off, and the far bank and the trees – and half a brain thinking of the road behind me – and all the time thinking that I was lucky I had my ISO at 800 or the birds would be just a blur, and lamenting at the same time that the lens was so wide, so the birds would be dots in the final image.