Phalaropes are the oddballs of the wader world. They spin and poke across the shallow scrape like no other waterbird. Chased by Avocets, young Redshanks and a Godwit, this male never stopped moving - a tiny speck on the great flatland, dwarved by all the other birds present. Its lithe neck and golden streaked back twist and turn so quickly that sketching it was a difficult task, and my first attempts have fallen short of capturing the rapid movement if not the form. Hopefully it will hang around long enough to give up the secret of its twitchy motion.
