Almost exactly a year ago I took photographs of the swans at Cockwood Harbour – the harbour was full of them and, it being early morning, the swans were all asleep and had their heads tucked under their wings. Now I’m not normally a particularly early riser but this morning I awoke at six-thirty with the impulse to go for a bike ride to Cockwood and Chris and I were away within the hour.

The sun was shining and the gentle breeze had the coolness of morning, making it a very pleasant ride, and even more-so because the roads were pretty well free of traffic; it was too early for the morning dog-walkers and sightseers on the cycle-paths and the serious cyclists (in Lycra) kept to the roads.

The tide was out and the slender snake of water remaining was still trickling out under the railway bridge and into the estuary; disappointingly, all the boats were sitting on mud and the harbour was bereft of swans. Nevertheless, we parked our bikes by the railings and strolled around to the bridge. When the tide is out you can walk under the bridge, stand on the other side and take in the view of Exmouth across the water; and, as we discovered, you can see also a flock of swans silhouetted against the sun and the glistening water…