Oare Marshes just before Christmas. I popped up with Martin Till to the Marshes, arriving before sun-up. The most gorgeous light came up with the sun - a tremendously rich coppery colour. The lapwings were out in force, and some were flying. I caught this one just as it came in to land on mud that was just submerged below the water.

You can see that I was shooting over the top of some vegetation, which appears out of focus and below the bird and towards the edges of the picture. I've been debating with myself whether or not to clone them out. Are the shapes a distraction? Perhaps - if you are of a mind to be distracted. But I think they add a little recession to the picture, and a little sense of mystery and separation. So they stay in.

I've put a few more pictures from that morning in my ongoing wildlife album on Flickr. I rented the new Nikkor 500mm f/4E lens from Fixation over the Christmas/New Year period. They had a wonderful offer of 13 days for the price of one: resistance was useless!  It was a terrible wrench to return it, but as it costs the price of a nice car, back it had to go. An amazing lens and every bit as good as the reviews say.