Beaks run in our family

I went down to RSPB Greylake today, for a change, which is another one of the many nature reserves on the Somerset Levels.  The light wasn't great as it was pretty cloudy, but I did manage to get close enough to this Snipe to get a series of reasonable shots of it.  I've chosen this one for two reasons: firstly its very long beak is out of the water and in clear view and, secondly you can see the size of its feet, which are really quite impressive.

While I was there, I could see a couple of marsh harriers, but they stayed on the far side of the reserve, safely outside of photography range.  But at one stage there was an enormous kerfuffle and it seemed as though every single bird on the lake had taken to the air and was busy flocking together with its own kind.  The reason eventually became clear, a female juvenile peregrine intent on getting some lunch.  

I did manage to get some shots of the peregrine and I've uploaded one as an extra.  Its way too far away to make a decent image, but this is the first one I've ever taken a photo of, so I wanted to share it even though its not great.  The bird on the left of that shot, flying into the distance is a much slower moving marsh harrier.