I ended last year with a trip to Slimbridge and started this one to the same venue as, with a short break in the gloomy weather, I knew we would be bound to see a wealth of birds.

I saw a group of birders looking at something near Slimbridge but only realised when I returned home that they were looking at a glossy ibis. A chance missed. Nonetheless, there was plenty to keep me happy before the rain came back. We loved seeing the big flocks of godwits, wigeon, pintails, lapwings, curlews and golden plovers but the focus of my camera was on the ruff, which I don’t see often, and some white fronted geese.