A Merlin? That's just magic!

Possibly the most grainy and indistinct photo that will find itself in the BlipBigYear, but what the hell, this is a bird that I've been after for absolutely ages - a Merlin. The UK's smallest bird of prey, a bit bigger than a Blackbird. And hey, the light was terrible, I was at 3200ISO, the autofocus was struggling in the flatness so it was manually focussed, and these things are FAST.

Considering popping up again tomorrow morning in the hope of a better sighting.

It was a nice wildlife walk to work. All of this within a couple of miles of my front door:

Sleeping Fox
Reflective Teal
The Established Heronry
Posing Buzzard

Aaaaaaaaaand.... it's the weekend....