June 5 + 

A half-an-hour of today I spent in a punt under a copper beech out of the pouring rain listening to Lady ⸻’s gamekeeper at A⁠⸺ talk about beasts and local politics⁠—just after a visit of inspection to the Heronry in the firs on the island in the middle of the Lake. It was delightful to hear him describing a Heron killing an Eel with “a dap on the niddick,” helping out the figure with a pat on the nape of his thick bull neck. + 