This female Cormorant was only about 12m from me as I rounded a corner at Hatch Pond on the outskirts of Poole in Dorset. She bravely sat on her perch as I took several shots of her from opposite positions giving markedly different lighting effects. I used a Canon EOS 350D with a Tamron 200-500 f5.6-6.3 zoom on a sturdy Tripod.

Date: 08/01/08

Location: Poole, Dorset

Photographer: © Richard Keates