All the time I have known my husband he has wanted to run RSPB Leighton Moss. When I met him we were living in Yorkshire, he was running RSPB Fairburn Ings, . We moved when he got his dream job.

RSPB Fairburn Ings was a reserve created on slag heaps, the residue of coal mining. Although it was reed beds, it had an open vista across the water. I use to go and stare for hours, balancing my concentrated close-up work.

I was shocked when I arrived at Leighton Moss, no open vistas here!! Just a maze of tall reeds, and being somewhat vertically challenged, I found this overwhelming and disorientating. I have grown to love it, staring and recording through the windows provided in the hides. These create interesting frames as I draw the jiz of the birds, understand camouflage by studying water iris and watch the deers feed.