Ring necked duck

There was another spectacular sunrise cloudscape this morning. The rolls of clouds resembled the curls of a lawyer's wig, particularly as the colour began to leach out after this was taken.

This should have been a photo of a ring-necked duck. I spent a couple of hours this morning looking for the bird at Pine Lake. With the help of one of Wifie's ex-colleagues, I did eventually get a good view as it flew across the lake and settled close to the opposite shore. But when we got round there, it was nowhere to be seen. So Big Len stayed in my rucksack, and instead I added a few other distant duck species to my year list. Still, the RND was a UK life list species for me.  It's a long way from home, and now forlornly developing its male breeding plumage.

Perhaps a bird blip tomorrow?

I've had two blip-related emails this year so far that exemplify everything that's good about this place. One was from a blipper who has beautifully painted a blip photograph that I sent her four years ago. The other was from someone who is not a blipper, but gave me the best encouragement to keep blipping that I could possibly have hoped for. Thank you to both of you!