Gadwall at Marazion Marsh

I spent some time at Marazion Marsh yesterday on a bright sunny afternoon looking for sightings of the reported first Bittern of this winter, It was not to be but a fine pair of Gadwall flew in to land on the water while I waited.

The plumage of these birds is always shown best on flight or preening shots and the late afternoon sunshine produced a dramatic exposure to compliment it

One of the local Grey Heron was also busy taking advantage of the fact that the late afternoon October sunshine was just warm enough to bring out a few remaining perhaps rather slow moving Emperor Dragonflies and I watched it dispatch three from a single patch of cut reed bed within thirty minutes.