Bank of Scotland Hide; Little Egret, Water Rails and Kingfishers

It's winter, I'm sure you've noticed with short days, the sun only 10 degrees high at noon and the weather wintery. These photos from the Bank of Scotland Hide at SWT Montrose Basin were taken in a short spell just after I sneaked quietly down and into the hide. Also there and showing very well for Water Rails were at least three separate rails, seen feeding in the open and swimming often. It was just too dark to get any photos of the Water Rails worth keeping.

Some video below filmed with my DSLR, not an easy task trying to keep a 4.5kg camera and lens still! I didn't anticipate the female Kingfisher and stopped filming too early, doh!

Water Rail feeding in the open, click here for video  not in good light

Little Egret, click here for HD video

Male Kingfisher chased off by female, click here for video  in pouring rain

The Little Egret which at one stage looked like it was going to land in front of the hide

It didn't but because of the peace and quiet it was closer than usual, then it wandered away to the back of the salt pans

It didn't take long for the little light to go and despite high iso settings it was grim in the rain

Male Kingfisher which was chased off the perch by the female moments after this. I hope the offending rush between the hide and the bird breaks off soon!