Tall Tails and Short Tails

The warden of the local nature reserve very kindly opened out of hours for us and took us on a guided walk around the reserve earlier in the week. Seeing wildlife in the evening is not something I get the chance to enjoy very often so it was a delight to see a skein of grey lag geese flying overhead to their night time roost. "Don't open your mouth" he warned as they swept above us. At this time of year they are moulting and the mill pond around which the reserve is based is full of shed feathers now. Time spent in the biggest hide revealed a very proud Little Grebe with his youngster paddling along in front of him. The female has made herself scarce by now but he continues with his parental duties. The two were the same size [quite dinky actually] but with different markings. We caught a glimpse of sandpiper and the back view of a kingfisher as it shot off away from us. This year's brood of herons were also at the water's edge. The adults have already headed