Goosanders : Clydach Vale Lakes

This morning I thought I'd pop up to Clydach Vale lakes in the Rhondda valley for a couple of hours in an attempt to catch up with the wintering Goosanders that have been showing quite well and then get home to put my feet up and watch our first game of the Six Nations rugby championship against Ireland.

I was greeted on arrival at the bottom lake by an almighty hailstorm which confined me to the Jeep for ten minutes or so, this soon cleared over and the sun came through the clouds intermittently, I soon found the Goosanders and there was one male and three females present.

They are lovely birds to photograph especially the males but it is so easy to 'burn out' the cream/white of the breast whilst trying to obtain a glint of light in the dark eye against the bottle green head, it really is a good test of getting the exposure right.

The birds did not come as close as I would have really liked for some 'crippling' photos but I came away with some images that I was quite pleased with.......