On Sunday, Adam and I headed to Rainham RSPB reserve and walked along the boardwalk to the dragonfly sculpture where Brenda, who works at the reserve, was looking for bearded reedlings/tits. While waiting and chatting I spotted something run along the edge of the reeds – moorhen or water rail? Turned out it was a water rail, and it stopped in an open spot!
My first of the year and certainly my best ever views and photos.
But it got better, as it turned out to be a pair with chicks.
Other bird highlights included a bush full of little egrets and grey heron.
And a family of little grebes.
But I’ll finish with a few more water rail pics.
Due to the varying level of sun and shooting handheld at f8.0 and 400+mm, I shot most of these at ISO800 and applied a bit of sharping and noise reduction. The results are pretty good, good old pentax K-5!