Just a quick shufty.......

....... said the actress to the bishop.

Time was at a premium today (some long overdue decorating to do), so I could only afford half an hour birding at my favourite site.
And the sun was shining too! Life's a bitch, sometimes.
I arrived in the hide at exactly the same time that the Kingfisher turned up. She alighted on one of the perches on the waters edge so I grabbed my camera and fired off a few shots, but really needn't have bothered. Shooting into the sun, the bird was nothing more than a dark blue silhouette. However, she treated me to one of those awesome "hovering like a hummingbird" moments and then dived in to retrieve a small fish.
Ain't nature wonderful?
There was nothing else on the water other than a couple of Mute Swans and some nervous Moorhens.
A good day for buntings though. Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings kept fliting overhead. At least 6 Yellowhammers and the same for Reed Buntings.
Once again, one paused for a moment behind the hide:

Yellowhammer

8 Snipe rose from the reed bird and zig zagged across the tree tops.

A walk back to the car yielded 2 Jays, a Green Woodpecker, a Pied Wagtail and a few overhead Fieldfares and Redwings.
The sun had even brought out a late Red Admiral to feast on some rotting apples.

Red Admiral

Ah well, where's me paintbrush?