Out birding on Saturday.

Having not been out with the camera for a few days I was determined to venture out on Saturday fingers crossed I could avoid the showers that had been forecast.

Pretty early in the morning I set out for the churchyard at Napton on the Hill hoping that the Spotted Flycatchers would show better so I could get a decent shot and also hoping the chicks had fledged.I arrived there at just before 8.00AM and had the place to myself.

I settled down under a tree and waited.Yet again there was good news and bad news.The good news was that I soon saw an adult and a couple of juveniles not far from where the nest had been.The bad news was the early morning brightness disappeared and clouds rolled in,the wind got up and it got pretty chilly.Bugger Bugger !!!!

I did get a few shots but because the chicks had fledged they were pretty mobile and I kept losing them and each time I found them they were in the gloom.After a couple of hours I gave up and headed over to Brandon Marsh.

When I got to Brandon and before I headed to the Cafe to see the pretty waitress I looked for the Cuckoo that had been seen recently being fed by a Dunnock "near the wind pump" but I failed and never saw it.

After lunch I joined a couple of fiends in the Carlton hide which for a change was OK.There were five Green Sandpipers feeding on the mud and a couple of juvenile Redshanks that were famous last week because they had been ID on the Teal Pool as Wood Sandpipers causing several birders to race over to see them.

The other thing of interest was caused by me because on seeing a young Grey Heron on the water I said "Everyone has got a shot of a Heron with a decent sized fish in it's mouth but me and this one doesn't look like it's going to change that".Blow me down but a few minutes later it came out of the reeds with what I was told was a decent sized Tench.

Then half an hour later it came out of the reeds again this time having caught a pretty decent Perch.Fascinating watching it turn it round and swallow it whole.