Mother's Day?

Although it was a little belated, this morning, we celebrated Mother's Day by taking Malcolm's mum to Attenborough Nature Reserve.  The weather was unusually fine and the sun was shining beautifully as we walked around the wetlands and flooded gravel pits.

Near the visitor's centre, we were delighted to see a pair of Egyptian Geese staking a claim the best nesting place.

Floating around on the water was a gorgeous Red-crested Pochard.

Malcolm's mum noticed a small, brown bird picking about the shallows - a Water Rail was looking for food and being unusually bold for such a normally shy bird.

We have often heard the pig-like squealing of a Water Rail around the lakes of Pewit Carr, but never seen one there, so it was lovely to get such a good view of one here. A first for Malcolm!

Further on and a Bullfinch was posing on a branch, looking plump and round as he fluffed up against the cold breeze.

And a more familiar Robin seemed to be following us all round the reserve.

Soon, it was back to the car and off to have lunch to round off the morning - and the weather held nicely!