Another morning at the hide

Once again I started off during the early hours of the morning. At 5 am I had set myself up in the hide with all my gear ready. It was still far too dark to take any pictures, but I was still late. The sun was already making the horizon lighter and therefore I was not able to get to my hide without being detected by the birds resting at the swamp. Soon I'll have to start going to the hide in the evening and sleeping over to be ready in the morning. With the advancement of spring soon there will not be many dark hours to use for covert movement.

As the sun rose, the lapwings started their morning concert, as did the curlews, swans, cranes, grouses and a number of smaller birds that I can't identify by their sound only.

Noticing that the ospreys had returned to their nesting tree brightened my morning considerably:
As usual, cranes could be seen only in the distance:
The grouses were busy with settling their mating territories, however this time they stayed further away from my hide:
The swans made several fly-by's:
Lastly, no trip to my hide can be made without a few pictures of a sunrise: