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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JWN Andrewes" data-source="post: 3549106" data-attributes="member: 7131">April 8thLeighton Moss really can be a first class venue; birds, mammals and damn fine bacon rolls, the complete package.Decided on a post work dash to Venus for the Night Heron, joining a small and friendly band of birders and birder-photographers on site at around 19:20, with the bird in a really awkward position for viewing, particularly for anyone under about 6' 6", which all three of us are. We needed a plan. Stage one was to flip the angled scope upside down to give me some valuable extra height, and with the help of a taller birder already lined up I managed to draw a bead on our target. Then it was a question of very carefully twisting the scope back the right way up and, one after the other, lifting the boys onto my shoulders for tick views. Unfortunately that was all we got, as the bird did nothing more than retreat further into cover, in spite of our hanging on till half eight when the light was all but gone. So no pics, and BV definitely D, but bagged nonetheless. While we waited bats started to emerge, and I was kicking myself for leaving the detector in the car. All was not lost though, as on getting back to the car we managed to nail a couple of Noctules working the adjacent fields, so a mammal tick for the boys to go with their bird one. Needless to say, pizza was late tonight.</blockquote>