Dreary days

Lade - cold and cloudy, wet - A weekend of dreary, dull weather with rain throughout, particularly Saturday which was a complete washout in more ways than one. Since moving down here I`ve very much missed Saturday afternoon footie (QPR, Dunstable Town, etc) now that my playing days and dreams of running out as centre half for the R`s are long over. So, when our Lucy suggested watching her local team, Folkestone Invicta I was very much up for it, only to have my hopes dashed by the rain and a waterlogged pitch (by the way there was a Med Gull amongst a flock of Common and Black-headed Gulls on the pitch, so all was not lost!). Still, spare a thought for the Lowestoft supporters who`d already travelled down for an abandoned match. Oh well, we`ll try again at the next home game.

This morning we carried out the monthly WeBS on the local patch where 1,232 sundry wildfowl were counted. Highlights included 230 Shoveler, 12 Goldeneye, a rehead Smew and Long-tailed duck, although the Slavonian Grebe appears to have moved to New Diggings on the bird reserve. Before the wind picked up and the rain set in a Dartford Warbler showed in its usual spot, plus Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Green Woodpecker and Goldcrest elsewhere around the site.
Walland Marsh  - This afternoon I joined CP for the monthly harrier count at our usual spot out on the Marsh under glowering skies and steady rain. The weather conditions were so bad that no birds came to roost, which prompts the question just where do they go?