I took advantage of the sunshine and spent most of the day at ANR. Someone kindly pointed out that a male mandarin duck had joined the female who had been resident for months. Add to this sightings of snipe, bullfinch, an oyster catcher, a tree-creeper, male and female goldeneye and a trio of pintails  and I think you will agree it was a good day.

I was pleased to get them both together but the first one is a better picture

Apparently this threesome of pintails have been around for some weeks but I had not seen them before. You can see the sharp pointed tail (from which they get their name) best in the leader.

This tree-creeper  is well camouflaged but if you look carefully you can see its curved bill.

Finally, this black backed gull dived into the water in front of the hide and picked up what looks like a crayfish. I was pleased to get this shot as it flew away to enjoy its meal.