Pennington Flash, Long Tailed Duck

Have to admit I've been on a mid week "twitch" today to photograph a Long Tailed Duck at Pennington Flash, Greater Manchester, the first twitch in a long time and the last time I visited Pennington Flash being well over ten years ago so I was interested to see how the site had developed 

Arriving in the carpark noting the best conditions for photography I headed to the Horrocks Hide for quick a rece and see if I could get an update where the LTD was located, apparent the duck was located in the area of the East Bay opposite the main carpark so packing up the gear I relocated to the south side of east bay. Meeting fellow photographer he told me he has just observed the duck, moving further along to the East Bay Hide I located the duck diving about 10 metres from shore, quickly positioning myself when the duck was diving it surface right in front of me giving me the opportunity I hadn't envisaged, fantastic views at ten meters distance. 

Memory cards almost full and late for a prior appointment I left the other photographer to enjoy the close encounter

Another memorable encounter…