What a dull day it has been - but from the start I thought I'd try and catch some bird life to cheer things up.

Blue tits did their acrobatics in the cherry tree, the Great tits were heard but not seen. I tried to snap the Wren as it darted though the Californian Lilac. I could easily have blipped some sparrows, starlings, wood pigeons, doves, starlings or blackbirds. But through the window (I'm not that dedicated as to stand out in the rain), they just didn't live up to expectations. Which meant that at 3.30, with less than an hour of half-light left, I lurked in the garden hoping to catch a late Robin on the bird table when in the corner of my eye this shadow grew bigger. Looking up, there was this enormous Heron looking menacing and prehistoric, bearing down upon me at a constant speed, majestically looking down on all beneath it. Any goldfish pond would do, it would land, hoover it's contents and depart.

I quickly raised my lens upwards and clicked.