Early morning trip to Brandon Marsh.

Decided to go down to Brandon Marsh early on Saturday morning.It was fine and pleasantly warm when I got there and it was great walking round.

Went to the Teal Pool hide first where there was a Greenshank, a Common Snipe and a Green Sandpiper showing nicely in the morning sunshine.A Sparrowhawk flew in and had a go at the Snipe.It was nice to bump into Bob Duckhouse there as well.

The birding from the Carlton hide was quiet compared with recent visits but a couple of juvenile Water Rails made a brief appearance and a lone Green Sandpiper had the pool to itself.The bushes to the left of the hide were lively with Common and Lesser Whitethroats and a family of Blackcaps making regular visits.

First for me of the year was a visit from a KF that landed on the nearest pole.Stayed only for a short time but it was nice to see one at last this year.Tried to get some fishing shots but ended up with loads of pics of empty water.It was a good job one turned up because a very attractive woman was in the hide with about £10,000 of Nikon kit had come all the way from Suffolk (which is a great county for birding) to get some shots of a KF which,she told me,are very hard to find back home in Suffolk.One up for Warwickshire then.