22nd April "Team Work"

Despite not having any birding planned for today I'm up early and walking the dog at 6am....I have this curse of not being very good at staying in my bed once my eyes are open..I'm basically a lousy sleeper!.

Anyway I've just got back with a Staffie that's now knackered and ready to sleep and the text sound goes on the mobile...it's Jim on his local patch at Lea Valley and he has a Greenshank in his scope.
Being ten minutes away I feel the need for speed and head off. On arrival Jimmy has moved on but I take the short walk to the Wake Hide and sure enough there's a nice Greenshank feeding infront of the hide. A cuckoo calls right outside the hide too and before I leave the Greenshank flies onto the pool in the next field calling as it goes....a nice quick local tick taking me to 208 for the year and leaving me some 42 short of the target set of 250 this year.

Satisfied I head home after sending Jim the thank you text and I'm home before 8am with the wife unaware I've even made the trip. Nice text from Jim too to let me know he's bagged eight new ticks for the patch year list....not bad before 8am!....mind you he puts the hours in on that patch so knows when anything new has arrived....He later bagged another two making ten patch ticks on the day....it doesn't get much hotter than that as a patch birder.

A quick visit to the old mans to check he's on the mend and a pit stop at Sainsbury to stock the fridge and wash the car and I'm all set for a day in the garden.

The local Heron has been in my pond so we're keeping a close eye on that and the dog's doing a grand job of guarding it for me. Nice little surprise today when a Speckled Wood, Peacock and then a garden first in the form of the Orange Tip pictured below.

Female Orange Tip Butterfly

A little smasher!