So near yet.....

Saturday 4th April 2010

Just not quite connecting locally. Birds are starting to move but its a question of being in the right place at the right time, and basically I aint. So far anyway. Marsh Lane yesterday but only added Little ringed Plover for the year. Today started with a quick check of the spoil heaps at Picadilly but only saw Mistle Thrush, Skylark and Meadow Pipit. Coton was better with a Lesser Whitethroat singing but staying in heavy cover, along with Cetti's and Chiffchaff. The hide was as good a place as any to look for birds passing through. I'd done about half an hour when I was joined by another birder. After about 10 minutes the guy casually mentions the fact theres a Sandwich Tern on Cliff pool Kingsbury. What. Goodbye, Im off. Too late. When I got to the hide another birder confirmed there had been a Sandwich tern on the horseshoe island but had flown off north 40 minutes before. C'est la vie.

Took some interesting images at Coton. The face depicted in the sawn branch indicates the site of some Satanic ritual or, and I think this is rather more likely, a Fairy playground where birders who gaze upon the Smiley wooden image are blessed with good fortune and find lots of rare birds in Warwickshire.