Not to be

We were clearing down Dave’s trap and chatting to his good lady when Keith disturbed our 9am coffee with a heads up that a Whiskered Tern had been at Brandon Marsh earlier at 7:45 but had flown south so informed JJ in case it had gone down the road to Draycote Water. Well worth reading Keith’s blog Birding Afloat for the story behind his excellent find. Bob and I speeded up the mothing process with Burnished Brass, Gothic, Common White Wave and an unidentified micro of interest and headed for the pond arriving at the same time as Tim. Unfortunately we soon realised it had not come our way – just a Common Tern and 2 Yellow-legged Gulls out in the center then walked to the inlet finding male and female Shoveler off hensborough bank, Common Sandpiper near the inlet, 3 Raven in the distance off farborough bank, Stock Dove and Blackcap. Stayed an hour just in case the Quail that had been heard by a fishing birder on Saturday evening behind saddle bank might have decide to call but not the right time of day and with rain threatening again we left. A Great-spotted Woodpecker turned up in my garden mid-afternoon but pre-occupied with all the crashes on La Tour.