I was just returning from the local island from checking on the Eleonora's Falcons,I had just come around the bend in the track when my gaze wandered across the marsh to where three Black Storks were feeding.

I have made it a daily task to check all  the Black Stork - arrivals on my patch to check whether they have been ringed ,as some friends of mine are involved in a Black Stork breeding - project in Estonia. They monitor all their storks on migration through satellite - navigation.

 As I got my scope focussed ,one of the storks turned towards me to display the biggest eel I have ever seen .In fact it was far to big for this stork to swallow,but it was'nt giving up! It thrashed it against a rock, it stood on it to keep it still, it even tried pecking it to break it in two,but to no avail. After 15 minutes the stork eventually gave up struggling and started chasing the smaller fish which the other storks and egrets were feeding on.

                                      The eel was dead by this time and I estimated it weighed approx 4 lbs.

                         Mum and Baby preening each other after a good meal of much smaller fish .

                                               After all she did have a baby to feed