Monday March 28

Overnight Storm Kate had battered our windows and deposited bucket loads of rain on the garden. Surely, surely, it would produce a scarce bird at the patch. I practically skipped out of the house full of optimism.

Sadly it doesn't pay to be too optimistic at Morton Bagot, rather like supporting West Brom, and after an hour of splashing round I had to conclude the only thing the storm had produced was high water-levels.

At the flash field the grass was overwhelmed by floodwater, and consequently many of the Teal and Snipe had disappeared into it, resulting in disappointing counts of nine Snipe, 16 Teal, three Green Sandpipers and two Redshank. One of the latter species avoided getting its feet wet in a rather novel way.

I scanned the ploughed fields in a vain attempt to find a Wheatear, but none had arrived. Continuing the recent theme of photographing mammals, I was able to get some shots of a nice Roe Deer buck instead.

And that was about it. Except, if you have ever read Bill Oddie's very funny Little Black Bird Book, you will know there is a chapter called "brightening up a dull day" which explains how to have rubbish views of birds which are probably something common but just might be something good. My entry in this category for today was a favourite subject - the distant accipiter.

I went for the record shot because I thought it looked biggish, and not flappy like a Sparrowhawk. Unfortunately the long tail leads me to believe it is the common species, presumably a female.