April 10th and coming steam specials

With a bright sunny start and hardly a breath of wind we did really well for the first 40 minutes of our visit to the pond before activity died off and we cleared off - male Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk, 2 Shelduck, Long-tailed Duck, Raven, 10 Sand Martin and the “blonde” noted
Napton on the Hill had 4 Sand Martin going over heading north, 3 Raven, 2 Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and our first Orange-tip of the year while Napton Reservoir had 2 Swallow north, 17 Raven, 6 Buzzard and 2 Chiffchaff. Butterfly’s included 2 Orange-tip, Brimstone and 2 Small Tortoiseshell.

Vintage Trains Limited are running the steam special The Berks & Hants Aquae Sulis on Saturday April 12^th from Solihull to Bristol return via Banbury, Reading and Bath hauled by GWR Castle Class 4-6-0 No 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe so will be stopping at Warwick Parkway at 7:27am and Leamington Spa at 7:42am then passing Fenny Compton at 8:17am and Wormleighton Reservoir a couple minutes later.  All times are correct at time of publishing but there’s always a chance of it being later or earlier.

Next day (13^th) Steam Dreams are running a steam special from London Paddington to Warwick and Stratford on Avon hauled by BR Light Pacific 4-6-2 No 34046 and due past Fenny Compton at 13:19pm and Leamington Spa at 13:30pm then stopping at Warwick at 13:34pm.