Under The Wire

5pm start on The Lord's Birthday (and my Dad's too - 71 today!), and sitting in the employer's premises at Cramlington at 00:15hrs and I thought I heard a Tawny Owl. Hearing things, thinks I. And then a few moments later and there it is again. Window open and after a wee while, voila! Went to try and and locate it better, and it was coming from the SE, so perhaps near Valley Park.

Almost Jack Sh*t!

Had another plodge about Wessie H this morning, not a snipe of any persuasion emerged from the Somme-like terrain. First Fieldfare of the season looked smart, and not much else to get excited about. Thought I had a few glimpses of SEO diving into the grass but if it was, it never emerged. Off to Arcot next, and as I watched the water from near the big free or thereabouts, a bloke with a wee dog arrived at the east shore and proceeded to walk clockwise around the shoreline. As he headed for the five bar gate on the south shore, a small bird flew up from his feet and low and east and towards the SE corner and dropped out of sight. Hmmmm - looked Jack Snipey to me. He scaled the gate and walked towards me. Q: Did I see a bird rise from near your feet? R: Yes. I nearly stepped on it. Small and brown and black and it flew off that way (points to the SE corner) So I bid him farewell and walked the reverse journey, and as I did so, a Jack flew up from the SE corner and off over the water.

Still Here

Inundated (NOT) by enquiries about my continued presence on the planet due to a lack of blog posts, fear not, I am alive and well. Too much work (and too short a day length) makse me a dull boy and one who needs to get out more. Resisted the trip to see the LGS at Long Nanny, but did spend a wet and welly-clad 90 minutes thrashing the local swamps in search of Mr Jack Snipe. So far, no good.