Courting

A glimmer of afternoon sunshine finally encouraged me out for a walk, though it was hard to drag myself away from watching the lesser redpolls, which have become rather a fixture on the sunflower seed feeder (see extra).

I went to Ferry Meadows, where I finally tracked down a group of Snipe, who were feeding on the semi-flooded meadows, though they were rather too far away to get anything other than record shots. I was able to show them to a lady and her granddaughter, who was aged around eleven or twelve, and was clearly already a very knowledgeable birder.

The water birds are getting quite serious about courtship. I watched a pair of male swans carry out a rotational display, which was rather wonderful. This is the first time I've ever observed this remarkable phenomenon, And this pair of great crested grebes spent some time flirting with one another, though they never quite made it to a full-blown courtship display.

On the way back to the car I was accosted by a couple who wanted to know what I was photographing. The lady had very strong opinions about various environmental issues, and spent some time telling me all about her views, which were well intentioned but sometimes lacking in scientific justification,