Coots

Question: What do you do on a dull, dull day when the sun is hidden behind an impenetrable blanket of cloud, and everything you photograph looks horribly, blurrily uninteresting?

Answer: Mess about with Photoshop.

When most of the world has gone back to work, I have a few more days leave. I went for a walk around Leighton Moss at lunch time, waiting for the sky to lighten - but nothing happened. If anything, it got darker. Much of the open water is still frozen, and most of the birds were either a long way away (the ducks) or simply not showing (bitterns, water rails, bearded tits).

Most coots act in a solitary way, but these two were doing everything together: repeatedly getting in and out of the water and skidding about on the ice, and then diving for food. You wouldn't say coots were cute, rather they are brash, noisy, squabbly birds. These two though were acting like best mates with a bit of playful banter and pushing and shoving going on.

I don't normally do much with Photoshop, but given the conditions I have tried to capture something of the essence of their personalities and produce something a little less dull. Reactions, please.

New birds today: teal, coot, gadwall, tufted duck and treecreeper. Total for 2011: 65 species. Some people have expressed surprise at the number of species. To put it into perspective, every New Year in Cumbria the keen birders have a bird race with an agreed finish location (a pub) to see who can get the most species in 24 hours. The winning team regularly records more than 100 species without leaving the county. May Day bird races in counties like Kent and Hampshire will clock up 150+ species.