It's "Ruff" Out There.......

A trip to Martin Mere in Lancashire was my option for today. We were up in Preston visiting my other' half's family. The other option was sitting on a football terrace at Preston North End - no  contest!

I met up with tonym who I first met on a LPH holiday a few years ago. It wasn't a promising start as the weather was pretty grim, but we were treated to some unexpected sunshine towards the end of the afternoon. 

At this time of the year it's the Whooper swans who are the star attraction coming down from the north to stay here over the winter. But with warming temperatures the numbers are declining each year.

This is a ruff, and an unusual one with such white plumage. They do vary quite a bit anyway. I'd not seen one like this before.

We had a really lovely afternoon, and you never know what to expect on the bird front either.