So I took my Camera to work with me today as we have been seeing kingfishers every day, some quite dramatic and close sightings as they plunge in the water after sticklebacks.

But today we only got fleeting sights of one as it flew down the stream in front of us, maybe it was because it was cold and there was still some ice on the water.

But one bird you can always see near water is the Moorhen a member of the rail family, sometimes known as Marsh hens, River chickens and Waterhens which maybe is the most descriptive of these birds as really you do not find them on moors but always near water, males were known as Water cocks and females known as Water hens.

They always look a nervous bird flicking their tails as they walk, they have large feet that are not webbed, but help them walk over floating vegetation, in fact they also can be seen in trees which always looks quite odd as you do not expect to see them walking along branches.

Quite an attractive bird, with its yellow legs and yellow and red beak, but often overlooked as there are estimated to be 270,000 breeding pairs in the United Kingdom.