16th April and I was going East along ther A14 heading for RSPB Lakenheath. Arrived at 09.00, just the time to get a pass to the disabled car park much closer to the hide. My knee operation is still in recovery mode.

Arriving in the hide, all that was on show was a family of Coot, two adults and two chicks. Coot is not my favourite bird, to be honest, but with nothing else on show, I took some shots.

On maximum shot speed (30 frames per second) and pre-capture, I tried to get the perfect shot of an adult diving - just the bill hitting the water.

Almost but even at that shot speed it just missed the shot I was aiming for after several attempts.

A Bittern flew past - just close enough for a reasonable shot.

and then the star turn. A Great Created Grebe appeared from the reeds where it has a nest and decided to fish right in front of the hide with considerable success, catching two rather large Rudd.

This close-up shows the size of the second catch. It took 15 minutes before it finally managed to swallow it.

As I was required at home, I left at lunchtime.

My next visit was to RSPB Fowlmere on 22nd. First to show was a rather distant Hobby

and then the Marsh Harriers put in an appearance but never particularly close to the hide and by then the sun was doing a disappearing act so most shots were deleted except this one.

So not a great afternoon - can only get better.