A Little star at the local park

I know there's good spot in a local park for Scarlet Elf Cup mushrooms, so I went down a few days ago with the macro lens to see if they were out. There were loads.

However, as I was walking back past the lakes, I spotted a visiting Little Grebe close to the decking. They aren't common visitors to the park and this one didn't seem to be quite as shy as they normally are. So, I got a couple of shots.

Most unusually, he/she actually started to swim towards me so I laid down full stretch on the decking to get some really low level shots.

I got the odd strange look for laying down but with the camera only a few inches above water level the views were great .

You just don't get this close (or this low) in a hide and even as I was taking these, I knew I liked the viewpoint.

"You don't half look odd from this angle!"

Even if it wasn't shy, it still tended to point its bottom at me which must be the most common view of a Little Grebe!

I actually ended with loads of photos because I know I won't get that close again for a while. However, there were a few other birds about … a Shoveler

A Cormorant enjoying the sun

The usual scowl of a Tufty when viewed head on

And this is the most ripped gull I've seen... a Lesser Black-back showing off its muscles 

A young Herring Gull

Last word however goes to the Little star … and possibly the most useless tail of any bird