30th April 2009

100th post, apparently!
Cycled to Earlswood during the early afternoon. From the causeway, I saw up to 13 Common Terns and 5 Swifts at a time, as well as 2 Grey Wagtails; however, without doubt the best bird that I saw there was a Yellow Wagtail! It landed on one of the wooden rails along the causeway, before dropping down on to the road but was quickly scared off by a vehicle (grr!), flew off over Windmill Pool and left the lakes, heading southeast - an Earlswood tick for me, but would've been nice to have seen it at rest for more than 30 seconds. Also seen were a Canada Goose pair with 5 goslings at Terry's Pool, and 1+ Common Whitethroat and 2 Reed Buntings at the scrubland south of Windmill Pool.
M.P. Griffiths

P.S. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening cycling along roads near Earlswood. In the Box Trees area, I saw 2 Red-legged Partridges (lifer!) and 3+ Skylarks. At Blythe Valley Park, I saw a Kestrel and 2 Reed Buntings, and heard a Cuckoo and a warbler (Sedge/Reed, in a reedbed).
Once again, I had bad luck cycling home - it was dark and I was in a hurry to get home because my bike has no lights, and I had a bit of an accident. Basically my one leg is a little painful to walk on now, so I probably won't be visiting Earlswood during the next few days at least (unless of course there is a report of a bird there that I've just gotta see). Still, at least the bike seems okay ;-)