Today was one of those days when you wished you were somewhere else. The cloud was low, thick black and damp casting a dark shadow over the whole of the country and in particular my life!
Never the less it goes on and a walk in the gloom was perhaps the best way to deal with it. So what did I see, surprisingly, quite a lot.
The first bird, as I parked my car on the marsh was this female kestrel, she glided into the tree and was on the look out for prey. It is exactly the same perch that I had seen a Hobby last month and I was hoping that it was going to be that more rare species, but never mind I really love kestrels as well! With extreme adjustments to my camera I managed to at least get this record shot which hasn’t turned out too bad really.

A circular walk around the extremes of the marsh took me alongside the canal eventually and with the light getting even worse it was still turning into a nice walk.. I counted 20 plus Swans, at least as many Coot a few Moorhen and a Little Grebe, the first I have seen on the canal. From the path I frustratingly, yet again saw a small group of Goldcrest again really close but too quick for a photograph. i tried to predict where they were going to fly to but I was foiled again. Then more pairs of Stonechats. I have included this photo of a male bird not because it is a particular sharp nor crisp image but the light was so unusual it has given me this quite”arty” image which I really like.