Lake Powell is a well kept secret. We asked at the Elleker General Store, Tavern, Cafe and Servo for directions and they’d never heard of it yet as the crow flies it was only 2 minutes drive away. We could see the lake, it was the turn off to take us into the Lake Powell Nature Reserve we were looking for. After a bit of driving around we found it and made plans to go there the next morning.

Now up to this point on our trip it had rained – and when I say rained it was the sort of torrential deluge that would make Noah start building a boat. So when we arrived at Lake Powell we were met with this magical mist over the water and a beautiful golden light filtering through it. These are the conditions you just live for as it just makes everything look bloody wonderful. Having parked the car up we walked down to the bird hide following the track beside the Grasmere Channel. Years ago when the first European settlers arrived they found a very low lying area and those bits that weren’t swamp were prone to flooding and so a whole drainage system was put in and the Grasmere Channel is part of that. But, rather than being a boring man made feature it is a wildlife haven and it feeds the lake with fresh water. When we got to the hide there was nothing much to see, it was clear that everything all the activity was along the channels that was where I concentrated my efforts.  It was great morning and I was so chuffed to see a Red-eared Firetail even though I didn’t get a good photo of it.