Pintail

Today's the day .................... for best laid schemes

We went to the RSPB Reserve at Leighton Moss today. The plan was to see the bearded tits eating grit at the feeders - and then to watch the murmuration of starlings in the sky before they swooped down to roost in the reed beds. In actual fact - we saw neither!

I don't think we were the only ones with this plan because Leighton Moss was hooching with visitors. I suppose some might have come for the special Christmas promotion of binoculars and lenses - but there were still loads of them lined up with their cameras and tripods as darkness fell waiting for the perfect murmuration shot. Anyway, it was all a bit of an anti-climax when the starlings failed to appear - over this bit of the reed beds at least.

Just as well then, that the pintails had put on a bit of a show over on the Mere earlier on. Now there's a very striking duck that is easy to identify and makes you feel good that you've seen it.

The starlings will just have to wait for another day ................