More drizzle

Another day at the patch... To my frustration I slept through my alarm so didn't get up to the farm until mid-morning but Steve Gale fortunately had it covered from dawn and had unearthed a Common Redstart and a Common Snipe before I'd opened my eyes. Shortly after I turned up, a helicopter circled low overhead, putting up hundreds of Woodpigeons (there's been a sudden arrival of these recently) and the Common Snipe, which soon dropped down again. Steve joined me for a skywatch till approaching lunchtime, after which I got something to eat and returned for a very damp afternoon's birding. Birding in the drizzle is always an uncomfortable challenge and I mainly sky-watched, only checking a few keys areas of the farm for any obvious passerines. The highlight was a good look at the Sedge Warbler, CFBW's second record, which resurfaced today. Again, when I reached for me camera it vanished. Also remaining was the Stonechat from yesterday, though its Whinchat friends were nowhere to be seen. There was not too much moving overhead, but a few Swallows were moving north into the wind and the occasional Meadow Pipit squeeked overhead. There were still a couple of Common Whitethroats in the hedges. It was nice to see quite a few regulars giving it a go in the bad weather today, with Roy Weller, Paul Goodman, Ian Ward and Ian Magness also doing the rounds.