Water rail

I have been wanting to get a good enough view to get a decent photo of a Water rail for a few years.  They are very shy, secretive birds, more often glimpsed than properly seen, skulking around in the bottom of a ditch.  I went to Leighton Moss with the U3A Photography Group, and this ridiculously tame rail came and stalked around in front of me for several minutes.  Here it has just emerged from a hollow log where it was evidently hoping I had hidden a few mealworms.

Extras: I arrived at the Eric Morecambe hide at eight o'clock, and the lapwings and redshank were having a post-dawn stretch before settling down again with their heads under their wings.  Half an hour later a solitary greenshank arrived, probed the mud for a few seconds, and departed.