Lady of the Lake - Arturian Legend (Part I)

 Still they come despite only small numbers but on the cusp of Winter every one is a bonus!

VESTAL

migrant or home-grown who knows, or cares, as long as they are still showing up.
Otherwise it was just left to a handful of

RED-LINE QUAKERs
to make up the numbers.
With things still a little baron around our home patch just for a change, if nothing else, we took a wander down to Longham which we will publish in 2 halves. Almost the first Bird was a hoped for

COMMON GULL

which soon settled down and became our

First of the Season
as considered an extreme 'rarity' on home turf.
At the same time we took advantage of the lone

POCHARD

cruising back and forth close by

before being distracted by some human activity close by.
This young angler

had struck into what was potentially a decent size fish which

he was now gently and skilfully teasing towards the shore

while his mate made ready with the landing net.

Love it or Loath it these 2 chaps certainly knew what they were doing
and were treating thier prey like a new born baby

with a cradle to transport it from the lake to a nearby

bed to process it, we were amazed at the degree of care and respect they were showing.

Weighing in at 27lb this COMMON CARP was a catch indeed but the care didn't stop there.
With a gentle touch they treated the mouth with a special lotion and although not needed
there was a special 'glue' on hand to replace any displaced scales - never seen the likes of that!

Continuing our own search a small pod of

GREAT CRESTED GREBEs
drifted by, seemingly to the annoyance of a
Black-headed Gull

before we started our scan of the main island where

CORMORANT, GREY HERON
and the same species of Gull are usually in attendance but we'll leave it there for now.

MANANA!