Drake Mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos )

Solace Day 4

Today we reached Horninglow Basin, filled up with water and turned to head back towards the Marina.  One of our favourite mooring places is beside Branston water park.  The Water Park was a gravel extraction site until the 1950s, after it stopped working wildlife reclaimed the habitat.  Since then it has been turned into a local nature reserve and a country park with good level paths.

Kanyl hadn't had chance to see beyond the canal to the Lake, so he and I had a walk through to see what was about.  I had fitted the 400mm and 1.4 extender.  This turned out to be a disadvantage as the birds were so close all I could photograph were portraits.

This drake Mallard was being lit extremely well so I settled on it as a blip.  As you will be aware Mallards are the most common duck in the UK with them wintering and breeding in approximately 92% of all tetrads (a tetrad is a 2Km by 2 Km square).