[John]

The weather first thing this morning was very cold and very dark. I didn't feel at all like going birdwatching but I knew that at some time in the day I would have to go and get a sack of Sunflower Hearts as we had almost run out.

The place I go to is about 40 miles away but their price is so good, and the quality is excellent, that it is worth the drive to go there.

I left just after 13:00 to a brightening sky. It had also turned quite warm so I decided to take all my gear with me and call in a few places on my way back home.

As I approached the seed farm the sky was beginning to take a turn for the worse as the clouds were getting quite dark. Once the seed was purchased I decided to carry on to Blithfield in the hope of finding the reported female Garganey. That turned out to be a forlorn hope as I couldn't find it anywhere. In fact there wasn't too much unusual out on the water with the exceptions of one male Ruddy Duck and few females and quite a few Goldeneye.

My next port of call was Whitemoor Hayes which is in-between Burton on Trent and Lichfield. There had been a reported Greenshank there and I hadn't seen one yet this year. Approaching Whitemoor my heart began to sink as the sky was turning a decidedly dodgy dark grey. At Whitemoor I started my walk towards the pits, scanning the first pit, but couldn't find the wader. Out along the distant banksides I could see 3 Redshank, a couple of Common Sandpipers, an Oystercatcher and a LRP as well as a few Goldeneye out on the water.

Moving further around the site I walked past a piece of land that looked as though it had been freshly turned over. It was littered with rocks and boulders but a movement caught my eye. Lifting my bins I was soon looking at my first Wheatear of the year. In fact as I scanned further around I found another four more. I tried for a movie of one of them but as I focussed up something yellow shot past my vision. I looked up, put my bins to my eyes, and lo and behold my first Yellow Wagtail of the year came my way. Thankfully I just had enough time to grab short videos of both species. The light conditions were totally against quality photos but at least I got one movie of each species and also a couple of stills as well.

Moving further around the reserve I could hear, then see, a few Skylarks and Pied Wagtails. They were on the move far too much to attempt photography so I carried onto the new pit in the hope of seeing the Greenshank and a couple of Avocets that had been reported. The Avocets were easy. They were about 300+ yards away and stood out like shining beacons against the backdrop of dark water. I managed one record shot of one of them plus a short movie. Again the conditions were against anything better. Scanning the rest of the pit I found three Dunlin, another LRP, a couple of Shelduck, Redshank and on the far bank a surprise White Wagtail, the first I have seen in Britain for a while, but no Greenshank.

Walking back along the bank of another pit I found a few more Redshank and Oystercatchers and out on the water were plenty of Sand Martins and Swallows skimming just above the water. Still no Greenshank so I decided to call it a day at this site and move onto Walton on Trent, after the Great grey Shrike that had been there all this year. I had previously photographed this bird on 28/01/2006 but it was sunny then. Today was a different matter.

Arriving at the site I soon found the bird but it was possibly 500 or more yards away. After a few minutes the Shrike took flight and landed possibly a hundred or so yards nearer to me.

The clouds had completely changed to a malevolent, menacing looking sky full of foreboding darkness. At the same time the wind had suddenly disappeared and the air took on a depressive feel as all went totally calm. It felt really weird and I must admit that I didn't enjoy being there in those conditions so I quickly lined up my scope, attached my camera, fired off a couple of movies and a quick photo before packing up and going home.

I have placed images below of three of the birds seen today. I'm sorry for the quality but believe me at the distances I was shooting, and the conditions I was shooting in, it is a wonder I got any images at all.

John