Ultimate reward

Lost count of the hours I've spend in the hide. For the last 4 days not a single bird showed up. Last night there was a big storm but I went anyway. Not expecting anything but if you stay at home you will be pretty sure of seeing nothing at all. So I went. Still stormy and my 2 miles walk through the forest in complete darkness was quite an adventure. Branches falling from the trees around me. Very exciting.
All set at about 6am and the start of the waiting game. Fags, coffee and BBC wildlife magazines and a head torch. The same routine I have for the last 5 weeks. 1 PM and still not a single bird. A military helicopter flew over and I thought it was time to go. I peeked through my netting one more time to be sure there's no bird around because I don't want to be seen coming out of the hide. On my left there was a buzzard hovering against the wind. Not more than 15 feet of me. A white one, beautiful bird and it landed on the ground in front of me. I took three shots and the bird took off again. When I saw the images on the display I was very happy to see it was a rough-legged buzzard. Can't explain how thrilled I was at the time and still are. The image is not 'perfect' and hopefully I will see him again.

iso 400 1/125 sec. f/4 full frame

Edwin