A couple of local trips.

Went across to Draycote Water on Thursday morning because the weatherman told me it would be bright and calm until lunchtime.Well it was calm but not bright often pretty gloomy.Not so good for taking shots then.

Had a day of making errors.Abandoned my walk down the Farborough Bank and headed for Rainbow as the GN Diver had been seen there.It was not till I got to Rainbow,having seen nothing of interest at all,when Bob Hazell called to tell me a Green-winged Teal was showing well in front of the Toft hide.Well it might have been on Mars as far as I was concerned because to walk from Rainbow corner to Toft is a major expedition for me taking weeks of planning!!!!

Of course when I got there it had moved across Toft to the far bank.Lovelly!!!! Only shots I got were of the Goosanders on the Pectoral beach.

This morning,having heard of the bad weather coming later,I nipped over to Marsh Lane for a quick look.I didn't see anything special from the hides except a great number of Common Snipe but the Old Road was very lively with numerous Yellowhammers,Chaffinches,Siskin,Linnets etc. and the odd Redwing and a lone Tree Sparrow.No pics a bit dull.

A Foggy Day at Draycote.

Flushed with the success of finding the Purple Sandpiper at Draycote last Friday I decided to go over there again on Monday morning.When I left Knowle it was a fairly bright morning but when I started my walk round to the inlet a fog had descended over the pond and you could see nothing past the shoreline.

Met up with Francoise and Bob at the inlet having seen nothing at all but at least Bob pointed out the Yellow-legged Gull which was on the inlet beach.

After we had a drink at the Centre the fog had lifted a bit so we decided to walk along the Farborough Bank where Bob found the Great Northern Diver which annoyingly stayed several miles away in the centre of the pond.Other birds seen through the gloom along the walk to Toft were some Goldeneye and a pair of Goosanders.

Some crappographs below all taken through the gloom or in the case of the GND at great distance but good to see it.

At last I find a decent bird.

It had to happen sometime and at last it was me who found a decent bird and was able to tell everyone about it.I always go and see a rare bird that someone else has found so I was very chuffed on Friday when it was me who first spotted one.

I got to Draycote Water Friday morning and decided to give the Farborough Bank a miss and to walk to the inlet instead.I had seen very little until I walked along the jetty at the overflow and saw 4 smallish waders on the beach there which turned out to be Dunlin

It wasn't until I'd taken a few shots of the Dunlin that I noticed another wader that was with them.I rattled off a few shots and then tried to work out what it was.I thought Purple Sandpiper but was not certain so I walked round to the inlet where I knew Bob Hazell and Francoise were.Bob was interested enough in my shots to hurry to the jetty where he confirmed my ID.

What surprised me was how rare they are inland and what a good find it was at Draycote and therefore Warwickshire.More important it was me who found it.Fame at last!!!!!

Some pics above but not good ones as the light was very poor.Well that's my excuse.

The Wimp is back.

Yes the Wimp is back and the Wimp is of course me.

Went to Draycote Water on Monday morning and I hadn't walked 100 metres down the Farborough bank when the biting cold wind sent me scurrying back to the Centre where I decided to head for Brandon Marsh where hopefully it would not be so windy.I'd forgotten how cold Ice Station Draycote could be.

Had a good walk round Brandon but it was very quiet and nothing interesting seen.Finally entered the Carlton hide at lunchtime and if Kath had not been there I am sure I would have left there pretty soon.In the end I stayed for a couple of hours with all the interest centred on the bushes to the left of the hide where some Redwings were feeding on the berries.Other birds seen included a Sparrowhawk that flashed by a couple of times,a couple of Kingfishers but only one briefly perched ,a Goldcrest and a Treecreeper.

The only other bird of interest that showed was a Chiffchaff which I tried to turn into a Siberian Chiffchaff but got little support in the hide.

A decent day's birding locally at last.

Having had a pretty bad run with the camera at all my local patches lately when the weatherman said that Friday "would be the last day of the sunny warm weather" I was not confident of a good day with the camera as I set off early for Draycote Water.

It was a bad start because it was not sunny and not warm.A visit to Toft produced nothing of interest at all and even the walk to the outlet where you usually can count on some Grey Wagtails on the way to show themselves was very poor.

After a picnic at the outlet I met up with Bob and Francoise and things perked up a lot when on the way back to the centre we found the Lesser Scaup just off the Hensborough bank.I was pleased to see it again as I had not seen it for some time.It must have been out all night at a disco because it was asleep most of the time and you had to be lucky to get a shot with it's head up.

As we approached the sailing club we noticed some birds on the roof and soon spotted some Meadow Pipits and a couple of Pied Wagtails but then suddenly another bird suddenly appeared.It had a red tail!!!!! A Black Redstart!!!!! I'm claiming I found it but Bob was the first to shout out and I was the one who text Birdguides.I haven't done that often.

It was much paler than the two I'd seen before and it was having a bad hair day but just like the one at Coleshill last year it was happy to pose for shots.

Some recent local trips.

I'd love to post some decent shots but recent visits to Draycote Water,Marsh Lane (twice) and Brandon Marsh have been very disappointing with very little around to point the lens at.The only interesting shot I have taken at Marsh Lane was of some Golden Plover having just missed the Mandarin Duck.

On Monday morning I was in the River Pool hide on my own patiently waiting for a Greenshank to come nearer and nearly dozing off when all hell broke loose.The whole hide started to shake violently and there was a loud banging noise outside.An earthquake???? No it was what I'd forgotten.It was half term.Four young children charged into the hide followed by grandad.I attempted to be friendly but when I pointed out the Greenshank to him he replied "WE're not interested in birds".I left immediately.

Desperate to use the camera I started to take some garden bird shots on Wednesday morning even though the weather was crap for taking pics.

This morning my sleep was disturbed by a lager lout.How bad is that!!!!!

After Norfolk a local trip out.

After a decent trip to Norfolk last week I thought I'd better venture out locally soon before the camera rusted up with lack of use so on Friday morning,despite still feeling grotty after a flu jab,I went over to Draycote Water.

Surprisingly the weather was good with little wind and a bit of sunshine.That was the good news the bad was it was very quiet birdwise.A visit to Toft produced very little probably because there were at least 50 fishermen there some on the shore and loads in the water.The only shots I took were of the commoner birds.

I then decided to walk to Rainbow corner.I soon spotted a Kestrel on top of one of the yacht masts but struggled to get any decent shots as the light was all wrong.

There were loads of fishermen along the Hensborough bank so I was lucky to get some shots of a very handsome Grey Wagtail.I saw very little else except for some distant views of a party of 10 Common Buzzards.