It was baking hot on Friday. I bravely jumped onto my bike. It was midday by the time I got to Westhay (mad dogs and Englishmen and all that...)
It gets especially oppressive amongst the Westhay reeds. The dragonflies buzzed about angrily, beady eyes looking for their next fleshy morsel. The dead remains of petrified trees jutted at awkward angles from the dark swamp water. A truly prehistoric place.
The raised platform granted some respite, above the reeds the air flows a little more freely.
All around their were strange gurgles and quiet grunts. Moorhens I assumed, hiding amongst the reeds.
One decided to make a brief appearance, rushing around and doing a very good Jesus impression (walking on water, not parting the Red sea). It caught my attention enough to have a look through my binoculars. To my surprise it was not a Moorhen but a Water Rail.
It paused long enough for this quick snap.
I quickly realised that the noise was coming from his bill not from a Moorhens. In fact there were loads of calls all sounding very similar. That's because their were loads of Water Rails! Another one was skulking about nearby and a few minutes later I found these two critters about 20 feet from the first one.
Definitely "Network Rail!"
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