I was very fortunate that a friend - Howard - asked me and another friend -Nigel - to join him at Tom Robinson's Pond Hide near Bourne, Lincolnshire. It was rather early in my reuperation from my knee operation but I was collected from home - at 05:15 - an unearthly hour for me - and there was not far to walk to the hide from the car.

A sunny morning was forecast - wrong again - cloudy but as the morning progressed the light became acceptable. What was surprising was that the pond was frozen over but Tom broke up the closest area and spread mealworms and fish as bait. I deleted most of my early shots - high ISO - but later on, it was possible to get decent shots of the regular visitors.

Stonechat

Water Rail

and a Wren in typical pose

I tried the pre-capture on the Canon R5 MK2 and managed to catch the Wren in flight.

The last time I visited, Tom had arranged for a diving Kingfishers set-up but not this time so while they visited occasionally, perched shots were only possible but I like this shot as being different.

As the morning progressed, a Little Egret cautiously visited , even posed for a close-up and then caught by precapture when leaving.

Moorhen occasionally visited without doing much of interest but, once again, I liked this shot

But the star of the morning for me, as it is one of my favourite birds, was the Grey Wagtail. It fluttered from perch to perch and then over the water for a mealworm.

While there was still activity at the pond side in the afternoon, the main activity moved to the side where road-kill Pheasant had been placed. Carrion Crow visited a couple of times but the main attraction was a very cautious Common Buzzard that eventually flew in to check things out and then feeding but still keeping a very wary eye out.

So for me, despite being rather rusty, it was a very successful and enjoyable day. Thanks to the the other members of the 'Last of the summer wine' contingent!!!