Mallards Today myself Rob Cross and Steve Spry headed to WWT Slimbridge with the hope of photographing the Bittern that had been reported from there recently.

On arrival we had a quick look around the car parking areas for Waxwings on some of the Hawthorn bushes, this proved fruitless although we did (with the help of a couple of birders) get some nice views of Four Common cranes which was certainly a new bird for me, it was just a shame they were too far away to photograph.

We finally made our way to the Zeiss hide. After about three hours of standing still waiting in a freezing cold hide we decided it was time to move. 

One bacon sandwich and a hot coffee later we headed of to some of the other hides, we were shown a Brambling which was also a new species for me, I did take a few shots but with harsh light and the fact it was perched on a bird table, it wasn't really what I was after although I was still pleased to see it.

The last few hours were spent taking some shots of the Pintail and Mallards in flight, maybe not the most unusual or rare species but still very enjoyable.