Karma, stilletos and the optimistic Skylark...

 Well, today was not as I intended. In fact, the whole weekend, truth be told has been turned on its head and the patch today was simply escape. Karma decided to play the bitch, strap on her stilletos and kick me where it hurts. Such is life. The patch though, didn't care a fig / give a fuck (delete as appropriate) and so my 83 minutes worth were time well spent. Not that I saw much! But it got me thinking. Well actually it got me NOT thinking, which was what I needed most.

My new phone has been buzzing this week (I have limited ring-tone choice) with news of patch birds; Pintail, Goosander, Med Gull, Iceland Gull and I've not been able to go for any. It's been weeks! The chance to stroll in the rain was, therefore, just too good an opportunity to pass up. First stop was the eastern river... where there had been a pair of Goosander in the week... emphasis being on the word HAD. There was nothing today save 2 'domestic' Mallards, a Skylark optimistically singing overhead in the drizzle and the shouts and cheers from an unseen football match upriver somewhere.

Soggy, yet surprisingly unphased by my damp lack of birdage of trudged back to the old Volvo and headed for the Eastern Reedbed. As I walked up the short path to the 'hide' I could scarcely contain my excitement. Coots. I could hear Coots!! Three of them as it turned out and 2 Tufted Duck too!!! Is that yesterday's pork stuck between my teeth? No. A piece of apple I'd eaten in the car just now. My coat is blue. My boots are muddy. There's a carrier bag in a nearby tree. This was going to be hard work! Focus dammit!!!

Millbrook Pool; 2 Mute Swan, 5 Tufted Duck, 11 Wigeon, 8 Coot, 2 Gadwall, 7 Teal, 3 Shoveler, 4 Grey Heron, 14 Mallard, 4 Pochard, 1 Canada Goose. See? It's possible if you just focus! Rain. Coffee beckons. Shelter beckons. Pumphouse Pool east hide beckons.

Pumphouse Pool (east hide). Lots of stuff here / Not much stuff here. Now THIS was actually a useful observation. Why? Because it reminded me that things are as they are. If I want there to be lots of stuff here, there will be 'lots'of stuff'. If I want there to be not much stuff here, there will be 'not much stuff'. It's all just a matter of perspective after all... there's just 'the stuff here' whatever I think, but it's good to be reminded of the fact and I can now enjoy the Teal, the Shoveler, the Gadwall, the Mallard, the Tufties and the Mute Swans...

...AND ... subsequently at the Feeding Station the Blue Tits, the Great Tits, the Coal Tit, the GSWoodpecker, the Chaffinches, the Reed Buntings and the Moorhen.

Yes. Today was not at all as I intended... but that's the patch for you. It's honest. It has no agenda.