TheTamshee: spotted this Grey Heron; stalking the brown trout in the river tweed at Melrose cauld. Check out www.allanbellphotography.com for more wading birds.

TheTamshee: spent some time observing this Tufted Duck at a local reservoir. This medium-sized diving duck is smaller than a mallard; with black on the head, neck and breast. It has a small crest and a yellow eye. In flight it shows an obvious white stripe across the back of the wing.

Common Pied Oystercatcher

TheTamshee:watched this Common Pied Oystercatcher pluck earthworms from the saturated grass and deliver them to the juvenile. They are unmistakable in flight, with white patches on the wings and tail, with black upperparts. Young birds are more brown, have a white neck collar and a duller bill.
The bill shape varies; oystercatchers with broad bill tips open molluscs by prising them apart or hammering through the shell, whereas pointed-bill birds dig up worms. Individual birds specialise in one technique or the other which they learn from their parents. Check out www.allanbellphotography.com for more photographs of these colourful characters.