Puffed up

The robins of Leighton Moss have to be the easiest birds in the world to photograph, the only challenge is that they come so close to the telephoto lens that they can be difficult to focus on. Arguably the mallards are even tamer, but an eye level photo of one of them involves grovelling on a muddy path. Every hide at the Reserve has its resident robin, as does almost every 100 metres of path. This one was puffed up on a cold day, while being further fluffed by puffs of wind.

The Extra shows a rarer bird, though one that in the last few years has become increasingly more numerous, a great white egret. It was not that long ago when one of these would pull in the twitchers from far and wide. There was someone in the Allen hide today who was anxious to see one, somebody told him he might have more luck from the Griesdale hide on the main reserve. Matt and I had just come from there, and to us that seemed a forlorn hope. Predictably, within 10 minutes of his leaving, Matt spotted a white head on a very long neck above the bank on the opposite side of the pool. The bird then flew into full view below the Hide. But that's the joy of birding, it's never predictable. And the man will never know what he missed.

We had a good few hours, both adding to our year lists by more than 10 species, and mine has now moved on to 82. And we were treated to a display of precision fishing by a kingfisher which made 5 dives from a post into the pool and caught a fish every time.