@RawConvert and @Soupy: Thanks for your replies. It gives me pause to think about this shot, why I took it and how I edited it.
Before I start explaining (defending?) what I saw that morning and why I composed it the way I did: If the photographer/editor needs to explain how or what than s/he did something “wrong” (very experimental stuff notwithstanding).
I was focused on another shot and, turning to the right and down to have a shaded look at a shot I took I noticed the fence and my eye followed it upwards toward the nicely golden lit part in the middle (the red part) and especially the willow somewhat to the right.
I tried a few different approaches on framing this shot but I kept coming back to the lines leading up (the yellow lines) to my main subject and the roughly 1/6, 2/6 and 3/6 horizontal division (purple lines).
I personally think that an animal would have been to distracting from the way this scene was lit and its general lines.
The comments make me realize that I need to emphasize the important parts more in post. I did try to make those parts pop but did not like it (too unnatural looking, but I might be to cautious/hesitant).
I’m definitely going to try a few more edits and see if I can make a better version based on the comments thus far and those that are hopefully still to come.