British Rail

4 March 2010

The weather forecast last night was good for the morning so I left home early to do a pre work walk at Titchwell RSPB reseve. I arrived in glorious sunshine to an empty carpark. Onto the reserve and not a sole to be seen. Where was everyone ? this is supposed to be the most heavily visited reserve in Britain now and I couldn''t see anyone, empty hide and only one person further down the path. This place is normally heaving, even first thing. looking onto the lagoon and here was my first clue - no birds, well not by Titchwell standards. Then I remembered that site management was taking place. So I had to be content with this Reed Bunting, basking in the sunshine. A few Ruff a long way off but other than that not a lot.

Then as quickly as it came out the sun disappeared and the temperature dropped. That combined with a ticking clock had me heading back to the car. As I neared the fisherman's car pull in, a small movement caught my eye in the ditch and out crept a Water Rail. It was well hidden for the first couple of minutes but slowly edged out of the gloom into a little less gloom, poking about for worms. It stayed in the shadows feeding quite actively. then rushed off into the undergrowth (as they do). Given the dark conditions I was lucky to get these shots.