A marsh sandpiper showing its partner the goods – the partner’s bill can just be seen in the background. Why beat around the bush?

There’s a flooded meadow near my home, where the pumps running the drainage were stopped many years ago to allow the place to return to a more natural state. It is a great stopover for migrating waders, but there are some breeders as well, not least common snipes, marsh sandpipers, lapwings and ringed plovers.

On this particular morning only the lapwings and the marsh sandpipers made an appearance; along with shovelers and teals. The light was great, the wind direction less so – but a few of the images turned out nicely. Here’s a gallery of the best ones – do click on the first one to open the gallery!

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A teal snapped milliseconds after it pulls its head out of the water, with the water leaving an attractive shining coat.

And flapping its wings to dry them, and to let the world know it is here and it is well.

The shovelers were busy mating. The males would explode out of the water every few minutes, only to land a couple of metres away – just to let off steam I guess 😉

These two already have the first bit of business sorted. Next comes the nitty-gritty.

Another male bursting from the water.

And another marsh sandpiper shot

Marsh sandpiper morning ablutions.

…and continuing their heritage line…