Early start, out to Wales on Mission Kingfisher, no joy with the target, but quite an interesting day. When I got in the hide, it was still early and the light was not good. There was a Heron stood in the middle of the pool, tried a few shots but not very good, then he flew off to the other side of the pool out of my sight. Then a Little Egret, the white one, appeared, and started looking for fish. Herons normally will stand motionless, just watching and waiting for something to swim past then strike. The Egret hunted in a different way, stalking around disturbing the bottom of the pool and would also stand still and sort of like shake his legs and feet, again to disturb the mud. As the water was very still, I could see the ripples created by his legs radiating out across the pool. He caught a couple of little fish and then he got a very big fish. This fish was causing him problems, trying to escape and wriggling like crazy. I think he was trying to get it straight in his beak so he could swallow it, but the fish had other ideas. The Heron must have seen this commotion and flew across squawking and flapping wings in an attempt to pinch the fish. The Egret was flapping wings and trying to stop the Heron. In the midst of all this chaos, the fish gave a giant wriggle and fell into the water. The Egret and Heron both then started stabbing the water in a wild frenzy to try and re-catch the fish. No luck, the fish got away to tell all his mates about his near brush with death. That is a fisherman's story with a twist.
