Sunday January 2 - A cautionary tale

 Note to self: Never, ever again, go birding to Arrow Valley Lake on a Sunday. 

This morning, keen for some cheap ticks and not wishing to be out for much more than an hour, I headed off to my nearest lake. On arrival I soon began to wish I hadn't bothered. The weather was quite pleasant, sunny intervals and a mild southerly, and it may have been this that caused the hordes of fellow Redditch residents to descend en masse.

There were times when I was literally queuing while parties of chatting dog-walkers discussed whatever it is normal people talk about. Adding to my misgivings, the sailing club was open and yachts ploughed furrows through the lake's surface.

The one highlight for me (now self-identifying as not a normal person) was the presence of a fellow birder. I ran into Mark Islip half way round and we spent a while discussing how awful it all was. This is Mark's patch and he has some pretty decent finds on his CV, but he certainly has to put in the hours for them.

Anyway, despite it all, I did get a few cheap ticks.

Tick

Tick

Tick

In addition to the above, I added Mute Swan, Cormorant, and Mistle Thrush to the year-list.

You might think this would be the end of my cautionary tale, but more problems lay ahead. I arrived home to find Lyn sitting on the floor of the utility room. Not a good sign. She had missed her wheelchair in a particularly tricky transfer, and once she's down, she's down.

Fortunately her descent had been slow and we are hopeful that no physical damage was done either to her, or to me when I hauled her back onto said wheelchair.

There is however the possibility that birding may be suspended, dependant on there being no muscular ramifications.