Waterless Reed

I usually enjoy poking around in the John Lewis Christmas decorations department but for some reason the magic seemed to be missing this year. I love their advert and had hoped they would create a fantasy wildlife haven in store. 

I called in at the Tewin hide on the way home. I knew that the light was failing but hoped I might get a pic good enough to post. I saw a kingfisher flash through and a while later a sparrowhawk took the same route. A pheasant went for a paddle and was joined by a grey wagtail. A little egret flew overhead. A very light-coloured female mallard that I have seen here before arrived. She quacked a lot and attacked a mallard drake that dropped in between the rattling reedbeds. My pics are just too noisy/grainy to post. :( 

It has been decided to drain the area in the hope of attracting, I believe, green sandpipers. Personally I think it looks like an unattractive muddy puddle now and I think the water, what is left of it, is too shallow for the kingfisher to stop and fish. :(

"A reed, just bending with the storm,
Then to the oak inclined its form;
And thus it whisper’d,—”Aged friend,
I do not break, because I bend;
I find it best, while troubles last,
To bow beneath them till they’re past.”