A good day.........

3 April - A productive day. An early visit a sunny Cleeve Hill before the predicted showers, I couldn’t find any Ring Ouzels ( they were seen later) but a burst of song alerted me to a first-year Black Redstart near the masts. Then a further stop at Farmoor before my Oxford appointment gave views of 500+ Sand Martins, and a very smart summer plumaged Med Gull that I initially picked up by call, a few black primary tips indicating a near-adult rather than fully adult bird. Best of all, a stop at Twitcher’s Gate had me scanning the sky as per usual habit in the idle hope that a migrant Osprey might pass through, initially a pale Buzzard mobbed by Gulls caused a false alarm, then further mobbing calls caused me to look up again and there it was! An Osprey passing over fairly high, no stunning photos as I didn’t pick the bird up til it was flying away but it turned in the distance allowing one or two record shots. One of those adrenaline moments that makes all the time put in so worthwhile. Fortunately Pete Adams had just arrived and also saw the bird. To top things off, the male Garganey then appeared and gave good scope views on the scrape. A good day, and Cleeve will need another visit later in the month!