Black and white on recycling

The fields up the road had some manure put in them - presumably to be spread around soon.  Always worth keeping an eye on. In the last few days I've noticed a few pipits - presumably meadow, and there was a buzzard once, but to start with it was all about the wagtails.
Although I never had imagined setting up camo gear next to a pile of poo I did spend a few hours over a couple of days.  I was bit surprised that the birds seemed quite wary, and I couldn't get very near them - the fact that there were several long heaps didn't help.  Frustratingly too they seemed to prefer the more rotted stuff - I could see they were finding lots of grubs, but it wasn't really photogenic! 

I think part of the problem was that the fresher manure was still quite active - on a cold morning the steam streamed up from it so presumably not so good for the foodstuff.  In the second field there was some straw laden manure that had been out a bit longer and on a frosty morning I finally got a few pics something like I had envisaged.  No close-ups, but I think they still work - and maybe better - the straw is quite big and might look a bit unbalanced in close up.

 That last shot is my favourite even though the bird is small in the frame, and that after a bit of cropping.  The dusting of frost adds something too.