Out for a duck

It's been miserable on patch for what seems an eternity -- storms, rain, wind, more rain, storms, floods, more rain, sleet, hail, wind, storms, more rain, mud, fallen trees, wind, more rain... you get the picture.

The countryside around about is a mess -- trees flattened, hedgerows blown assunder. It's carnage out there, and birds, along with sensible birders, have been taking cover and staying out of sight. So it's been a tad quiet, and I haven't been out around patch half as often as I would like.

Some tufted ducks -- two drakes and a duck in fact -- visiting the lake for a couple of days was a useful year tick (less than annual on patch), and a great black backed gull, also visiting the lake, keeps me ticking over on 69.96%.

All my ducks in a row -- record shot of the tufties at high ISO in very low light = ropey as