Not so Ruff

Having been out most of the day yesterday i was going to give it a miss today but the sunshine got the better of me. I decided to go out later this afternoon and into the evening to make the most of the light. Called in at Cresswell for a couple of hours and was greeted by some Tree Sparrows as they came and went from a hole in the roof to the outbuilding next to the path on the way to the hide. From the hide some Lapwings and Black Headed Gulls were the only birds on the sand island with a single Redshank probing about in a tyre behind. A lone Linnet appeared and disappeared in the reeds directly in front of me and numerous Sedge Warblers kept popping up all around. A Grey Heron that had caught my eye earlier started wrestling with an Eel it had fished. I settled down to what i thought might be a prolonged tussle but the Heron swallowed it straight down. The sightings board had a note of a Little Stint that had been seen yesterday.
I headed up to Druridge Pools from here and after a slow walk up the Oddie hide was pleased to see a stunning male Ruff feeding in front of the hide. A real stonker!  I was going to have a wander up to East Chevington but ended up spending most of the rest of the evening watching the Ruff. A quick visit to the Budge Hide brought nothing of note except a nice sunset.

      a few different views showing plumage Ruff male

      this Grey Heron was looking rather dapper in the fantastic light.