Tuesday 24th April

As it was my birder's wife's birthday, I did my best husband impression (well, actually I don't need to) and wheeled out some beautiful ear rings for her and took her out for a outing to a nearby National Trust property not that far from us.  It was at this same National Trust property that my interest in birding was re-ignited 6 years ago (after being dormant for 19 years).  I seem to recall seeing my first Treescreeper and Nuthatch for years and this re-ignited the beast of birding within me and tempted me to visit Brandon Marsh - it was downhill from then on.  Obviously my trip to the National Trust property had other motives, in that there was a Dotterel showing at Balscote quarry 2 miles away and so we just had to make that slight detour on route.   The bird was not showing that well (just hunkered down asleep) and so we moved on hastily and spent the rest of an enjoyable day pottering around the National Trust property.