Colchester cont'd.........

.........Abberton reservoir
It was raining again today, not all the time, but it was showery, and when it rained - it rained!!
Sara and I had a nice visit to the famous 'cheap shop' in Tiptree to look at all the amazing craft bits and pieces this morning, and after lunch I decided to return to Abberton reservoir. As it started to pour the minute I arrived I went down the road a bit and stopped on the old bridge over the resevoir to have a look at the birds.
Once again there was a good selection, Canada geese, Greylag geese, red breasted geese, Lapwing, Little egret, and this beautiful little Ruff Philomachus pugnax.
The Ruff is a medium sized wading bird of the Sandpiper (Scolopacidae) family. It breeds in only a few lowland sites in eastern england, and it's numbers appear to be dropping.
Although it is a migrant, with many young birds visiting in late summer en route from Scandinavia to Africa some of the UK birds are present all year round.
The RSPB list it as RED status.
I quite like this shot, of this neat looking little bird, alongside the Greylag goose as it gives a good indication of size.
Last day tomorrow.........very sad!