Friday February 24 - Trainspotting

 It is sometimes said that twitchers are little more than trainspotters. Now I would no longer call myself a twitcher, but this morning on a walk up the river Alne from Little Alne to Wootton Wawen I did spot a train.

According to the name plate it is the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, so I reckon it can go onto my self-found list.

I'm glad I saw the train, because the birds on offer were distinctly mediocre. The highlights were a Marsh Tit and a Kingfisher at Little Alne, a couple of hunting Sparrowhawks, a flock of 30 or so Siskins, a fly-over Yellowhammer at Wootton Wawen, and a Little Egret.

Little Egret

One other find surprised me. I heard a crunch under my feet and discovered I had stepped on a freshwater mussel shell. In fact there were quite a few strewn about. Maybe the river deposited them when in spate, but perhaps more likely they are the cast-offs from a feeding Otter or Mink.

Duck Mussel ?

When I got home I discovered there are several species of freshwater mussels, and I made an extremely tentative identification of Duck Mussel.

Birdguides suggests I should have gone to Studley STW where apparently a Willow Warbler was singing this morning. Presumably it had over-wintered.