Patch gold! Self-found lifer at Black Hole Marsh

Okay so perhaps 'gold' is a slight aggrandisement, but an evening visit to Black Hole Marsh (in the rain) proved to be a very good move! I went with the intention of recording some video footage of the Tawny Owl(s) but two small ducks caught my attention. They were showing distantly from Island Hide. I sent out a message stating that I had a probable Garganey pair; I said probable because they were distant and I'd never actually seen a Garganey before. They eventually came within 30 yards or so thereby becoming easy to identify; the initial difficulty for me to make the ID was that the eye stripe on the male was far from obvious, as Garganey go. The male was a generally scruffy bird! The pair flew off of Black Hole Marsh and dropped down over the Estuary but 10 minutes later they were back in front of Island Hide! Pics aren't great as the birds were never really close enough, and the conditions were dark and wet:

The Garganey were still present when I left at 21:10 ish.

I also took a few shots of this beauty: