The weather is holding good. It’s mild, and today the early mists were being beaten back by some beautiful sunshine. Good light makes all the difference to taking photos, especially of common subjects such as these ducks. Each makes a slightly different use of the light, though my favourite is the silhouette.

As the sun rises the light loses its quality, but it was still provided some nice illumination of a young rat scrabbling over the rocks.

The really special moment came later in the day, with the sun high. I was back at the pond, but for a change looked out into the surrounding fields. At the edge of the woodland fringe a sharp movement caught my eye. As a startled rabbit ran out to safety in the field I spotted a stoat darting through the thick brush. These aren’t the best shots of a stoat, but I see stoats so rarely that I’m not going to leave them out.

The entire sighting was over in about 8 seconds. Naturally I stayed glued to the spot in case it reappeared, but it wasn’t to be. Wonderful to see though.

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.