We can all agree that when we are out fishing we see some extraordinary things and this is one of them. No your eyes do not deceive you, that is a small Pike of about two pounds leaping out of the water to grab that Gull.
It was around 3:00 PM and the rain had been pouring down since lunch when I glanced to my right. Hanging from a line caught up in the overhead power cables was a gull and below it, a very opportunist pike indeed. I watched for a short while and then got out the camera and began to film. The pike continued to roll and leap at the gull, the gull continued to evade it being just out of reach but I knew it was only a matter of time.
Part of me wanted to keep on filming to see how it all turned out, but a larger part of me said I should go intervene before that point arrived and rescue the bird.
So I did.
I managed to catch the end of the line and with a hard pull it broke just under the cables, the gull landing at my feet. The gull just sat there looking up at me as I slowly bent down and began to untangle its wing feather from the line. It sat peacefully watching me during the whole process as if it knew I was there just to help.
A few hours later after resting and preening itself it flew off with its mates.