Birds,Banter and Beer

Saturday 20th August 2011
A walk round Caldecote Hall on Thursday produced a Stonechat, 20 Skylark, 6 Yellow wagtails, 200 Lesser black backed Gulls and 3 Herring gulls. On Friday I went to the Birdfair at Rutland Water. The car park was further away from the marquees than ever but there was no queuing, except for the toilets. A bonus though was the Village Hall where the ladies of the village had excelled themselves with an impressive display of home made cakes at very reasonable prices as opposed the the ridiculous prices inside the show. Every year I wonder why I go, perhaps I'm curious to see what new indispensible accessories have been discovered for folk to spend their money on. Although to be honest the Marquees were much the same as previous years. I did meet some old friends from various trips, which was great, and I did enjoy part of an entertaining talk from Simon King. Stopped at Eyebrook Res. on the way back where there was a sprinkling of the commoner waders including Dunlin, Ruff, Greenshank, Redshank, Ringed plover and Little ringed Plover. Nearer home, a need for a refreshment break forced me to stop at The Wood Farm Brewery to sample their excellent Webb Ellis Bitter.
As a footnote: I had a phone call from Malta this morning telling me Jan and I had been selected for a 80% paid holiday in Malta. The poor girl in Malta then had to endure a 10 minute lecture on why I would never go to Malta because of their record on hunting migratory birds.