I wasn't expecting that !!!

Let me take you back to Ingrebourne Valley Park, a small group of  ' Bird watchers '  including myself, were enjoying the afternoon sunshine, waiting patiently for the Spotted Crake to take to the stage, the viewpoint perfectly positioned to view the muddy fringe of  a fairly small body of water.

By all accounts, views were going to be fairly short as the Crake makes its way from one side of the viewpoint to the other, before disappearing again into the reed bed.

So it was important to lock onto the Crake before it disappears and another long wait required, before it makes its way back again.
This seemed to be the general pattern of viewing, confirmed by some of the locals who had been watching the bird for the last few days.

As expected the Crake appeared, made its way across the viewpoint, giving everyone some excellent views of a very scarce bird.

 As the Crake reached the far side of the viewpoint there was a shout of  "Osprey",
someone had glanced at the sky, unbelievably, while everyone was watching the Crake.

Everyone looked up, the Crake was lost to view,  but there was the Osprey heading straight towards us.

The Osprey came ever closer to the small lake and started to circle, coming lower and lower, at one point it looked as if it may attempt a dive for an unsuspecting fish.

Everyone was sky watching now as the Osprey gave some excellent views in the sunshine,  it wasn't long before the local crows and Jackdaws moved in and escorted the Osprey away from the lake and out of view.

A very unexpected bonus, a beautiful bird to see. and worthy of its own blog entry.