A few days ago (17th December to be precise), I decided to go to Welney WWT Norfolk as I had not been there for a few weeks. Somehow, since the floods decimated the reserve a few years ago, it doesn;t seem to have the same attraction, but perhaps that is me. Anyway, time to check it out with a bright sunny day in prospect.

On arrivel, after paying my entrance fee, I was informed that someone had made a mistake a couple of days earlier and left one of the sluices open so that the water level on the main lagoon was too low and the birds were on the far side of the reserve.

Imagine my surpise to find a hide full of photographers but not one single bird on the lagoon. They were all visible at a distance and none were flying around either. Quite weird really.

Anyway, after a time of no action, I left to check out the other hides. Same situation. Nothing within a resonable distnce. From Friends Hide, there was some action at the far side of the reserve with flighty flocks of Wigeon

and Black-tailed Godwits that turned and twisted in the sun providing some contrast among the flock in flight

Then back to the Observatory to wait for the Swan feed at 3.30pm. However a bit of luck. Apparently, the reserve was to host a visit from BBC Springwatch the next day so they had a dummy run of the swan feed at 2.30 to see if it would work for the next day.

Interestingly, the swans did not fly in - they just paddled down the lagoon and with a calm day there were some interesting shots available

as well as some shots in the evening sun although in very contrasty conditions with a strong sidelight

Just packing up when three Barnacle geese suddenly appeared from no-where. Worth a crack at ISO1000

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