Yesterday was not a day to go out and take in the sprawling vista of the fens. Visibility was poor to say the least, but there is something magical about mist, especially over the water, and a short trip down to the settling beds provided a tantalising view of wildfowl as they emerged from the nothing as grey shapes, with all their bright colour turned to tones of pale and dark. The Teal were again scattered as the odd Harrier quartered the reedbed, and Shoveler phutted up and down the channel filtering the surface. after a while the Shoveler started doing something quite unexpected. One after another, they suddenly dived, appearing again after a few seconds, and repeating the behaviour as they slowly worked their way towards me. They did not appear to be simply grooming themselves- I reckon they were feeding, possibly on small invertebrates. Whatever they were doing, it looked odd, and really showed these normally fairly placid surface-skimmers in a new light.
