The editing from this day has been rather a marathon - nearly 2500 photos in cloudy conditions resulting in high ISO and my Topaz softare, while excellent in removing noise, does rather slow the process down, especially with the high resolution of the Canon R5.

Anyway, the day was spent at the Pygmy Cormorant hide where there is now also a second hide in the reed bed. It's a hide to lay down in only - gets tiring to aging bodies. We tried this hide first with Reed Warblers and Bearded Tits (Reedling) the birds on show.

There was a Little Crake in the reeds but it did not show for us all day - disappointing.

Shooting with the reeds in the background helped to overcome the cloudy day but was a real factor in the main hide overlooking grey water. A White Wagtail was the first to show.

and a Whiskered Tern also settled.

but it rapidly became clear that the best shots would occur when the birds were in the reflection of the surrounding reed bed.

In the meantime, a pair of Mute Swans decided to show off their new brood of 6 cygnets.

and a Barn Swallow also decided to begin nesting in the roof of the hide.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes started their familiar courtship display but did not complete it with the weed dance.

and a Purple Heron made an appearance on the far side of the mere.

But now the stars of the show started to appear with the reed bed mainly in the background. Ferruginous Duck, male and female.

and the species that the hide was named after - Pygmy Cormorant.

Rather remeniscent of a Pterodactyl, I think.

Next onto the penultimate day but the weather was not being kind.