Brandon and Draycote

This morning the weather forecast was overcast and I therefore decided to make a visit to Brandon followed by Draycote.  The plan was a good one, except upon arrival at Brandon I firstly found it to be flooded with access only available to one hide and secondly it decided to tip it down with rain which then turned into snow.  After an hour of waiting for the rain/snow to cease, I eventually gave up and made my way back to the car and then home to defrost.  Brandon was particularly devoid of birds except for a few bedraggled Lapwing and a busy Kingfisher who performed many flypasts.

As the day went on, the rain did eventually stop and the sun tried to come out, so I decided to try again and this way made my way with my birder's wife to Draycote.  The weather had presumably kept visitors away as the car park and area was very quiet except for the odd mad jogger and cyclist.  Birds of note were 4 Tree Sparrow on the Tree Sparrow feeder, two Goldcrest and two Grey Wagtail near the outlet and some loafing larger gulls in the centre.  At one point it almost felt like Spring as we heard our first Chiff Chaff singing for the year.