A sunny morning at Brandon Marsh.

The sun was shining on Thursday morning so I shot over to Brandon Marsh.I decided to visit the hides this trip and give getting Warbler shots a miss.

It looked like I had made the wrong choice as I entered the Carlton hide because I had not seen anything from the other hides.I don't know whether this had affected me and the three other birders in the hide because we tried very hard to turn a raptor that sat on top of a low pole deep in the Newlands for well over an hour into a Marsh Harrier.Still don't know for sure if it was one or a Common Buzzard the trouble being it was a long way off and a heat haze was distorting viewing through scopes and getting photos.No one could get a decent shot but here is my least bad one and one of another distant raptor that was flying through.Any ID comments would be welcome.

Saw my first Hobbies of the year when two travelled through high over the hide.You'd have thought they would have popped down for a while the miserable swines.

A Cuckoo landed in the far dead tree and refused to come any closer.Got some distant shots.

Just to prove I can get some decent shots I was pleased to get my first shots this year of a Garden Warbler as I walked back to the centre.