A Water Rail at Lemsford Springs, 20th October 2021.

The weather forecast looked a bit mixed so Lemsford seemed like a good destination in case of rain. Coupled with that was the fact that the resident Water Rail had started making an appearance. There were at least 8 Teal present on site and I manged to get a group of four together, and a male that was just starting to lose it's eclipse plumage.

Lemsford is of course famous for its population of Green Sandpipers and while still fairly early in the season there were at least 10 on site! I didn't focus on these for this visit, but worth posting one shot. Challenging light conditions, changing from bright sunshine to quite dark today.

Three Little Egrets were on site with this resident ringed individual taking time off for a wash.

Grey Wagtails are super little birds, and it was good to photograph this one. I have included a flight shot, and while not sharp, as it was quite murky, I think it works quite well.

The Water Rail did show, coming out initially to bathe, before heading straight back into the reeds.

It reappeared shortly afterwards, but got some hassle from a juvenile Moorhen. One of the shots shows the size difference.

Finally I did get some shots of it out in the open for a while, before once again disappearing into the reeds.

A great place to spend a couple of hours and the Water Rail was an added bonus!