Gulp! Bad Weather On The Way

I called in at Fishers Green this afternoon and have never seen so many cormorants on the rafts on Seventy Acres lake. I have recently learnt that the collective noun for cormorants is a gulp. :) Every time one of them left the raft for the water a flock of gulls would mob it. I thought maybe the gulls were after their catch but an RSPB guy said the cormorants would gulp their catch as soon as it was caught. Maybe gulls are just naughty birds? I've seen them mob tufted ducks and coots before.

There was a little break in the cloud, as can be seen in my pic, that gave me hope. Sometimes one can get fantastic light on the cusp of a storm. No luck. :( Soon afterwards the wind got up and the rain was horizontal. We saw a water rail scurrying amongst the reeds and I got my first shot of a gadwall duck. They're so beautiful in a grey sort of way that I'm going to wait for better light to post a pic of one.