Sunday 21st April 2013

Oh yes, the weekend. The time of the week when you turn the work's phone off, pack the laptop away and do something, anything else.

And for a change, the weather was supposed to be 'nice'.



And they got it right. Saturday morning, I went out at half nine with my friend, Gary. Heading over to Sandwich to do some twitching and photograph some of the birds we see. Wedrove off and headed out through Deal and along to Sandwich Bay. I thought I something in one of the fields opposite the golf course, so we pull over and it turned out I was right. Hiding, in plain sight, we two partridges were seen among the cowpats. Wherever you can find a place to rest, I suppose.



Then we head to a copse called The Pines, where last week he saw and snapped a few firecrests. Sadly, we had no such luck this week, despite walking round and round the wood. We did see Black Caps, Willow Warblers, Long Tail Tits, Mistle Thrush, robins, various tits, a wren and chiff chaffs. I got a shot of the LTTs, which is just about OK.



we then went over to the hide to see what was on the lake: Little Grebes, Lapwings and assorted gulls and ducks. We snapped them before calling it a day and heading back home.



That afternoon, I listened to the footy on the radio and looked at updates via Twitter. City beat Reading 2-1, which should be good enough for survival: but we've said that before! Anyway, scoring twice in a minute on the hour should have made it easy, easy, easy. But City managed to give a goal away and so the longest 12 minutes of the season had to be seen out before the points were ours. In the danger zone, all three teams lost, with QPR and Reading now all but certain of going down, and Wigan just four points from safety, but having 5 games in 15 days in which to see the season out. So, as it stands 46 is the safety line, but something like 38 or 39 should do it.



We have had badgers visit our garden every night for weeks now, and it really is a joy to see then come along and clear the bird seed and nuts before munching, or carrying away one of the fat balls. Friday night we had three at once, and last night we had three and two foxes. All within 5 feet of our living room window. Much more interesting than anything seen on TV for sure.