Fluffed up...

An otter had been spotted a couple of times over the last few days at one of our local nature reserves, so I nipped over there this morning to see if I could get a photograph of it. I sat in the hide for a while, but there was no sign of it or anything else of major interest. Fortunately there were plenty of reed buntings around to watch and photograph. This male's fluffed up against the rather chilly north-westerly wind, and a brief spell of sunshine has highlighted the warm chestnut of his plumage.

I started to get a bit twitchy after a while (I never have been that good at sitting still!) so headed off to the other hide, which involved walking through some very slippery, squelchy, dark grey brick-clay. I'd had a dream the previous night that I'd dropped my camera in something very similar, and completely destroyed it, so I nearly turned back at that point! Fortunately my dream wasn't a premonition!

There was nothing much at the other hide either, although I got distant views of a marsh harrier and two snipe, as well as a much closer view of a fox lurking in the reeds. I'd allowed myself a couple of hours, so after dropping in at the main hide to see if the otter had been sighted, which it hadn't, I headed home to do some more report writing.

Alex and I had a quick trip into town in the late afternoon to try out mattresses, as his is sagging badly and needs to be replaced. We had fun lying on various beds in John Lewis, and have now made our decision. I also bought my first Christmas present - not that I seem to have many to get this year (breathes a huge sigh of relief!)