More ticks in the bag on a sunny Sunday afternoon

The Safari had another load of wood to stack away neatly this morning was followed by an interesting session with the macro-lens. 

A tiny little thing, about 5mm long, any ideas what it is...

You must have sussed what they are now.  A Goldcrest was heard but not seen at the end of the garden bringing the garden totaliser to 24.

Then it was out with Wifey n Frank for a bite to eat at a favoured birding location with the pub that welcomes doggies. Frank enjoyed a few tasty morsels snuck off the table.

A wander along the marsh to get our appetites going resulted in a Greenshank (129) with little else other than a few Redshanks. During lunch a Buzzard flew over at a neck-breaking height, we were secretly hoping it might have been an Osprey but it wasn't to be.

After a very tasty and filling bit of scram, washed down with a very nice pint of Lancaster Black, another short walk saw Spotted Redshank (130) added to the year list.

We had another blast at some macro shots with the Gorse that was flowering along the trackside.

Three Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and our first hoverflies; a few big Bumble Bees and a Honey Bee were seen here too. 

A detour saw us at the end of the road by the little ferry terminal and the half built flats where we saw the Black Redstart (131) straight away - how easy was that after our last three failed attempts?

Next it was off to the nature reserve after a nice cuppa to wait for the sun to go down and see if any Sand Martins dropped in.

They didn't! A Cetti's Warbler sang and two Kestrels sat side by side on the big barn. As the light faded we headed up to the top end where we saw PE and KB already watching a Bittern; P let us have a look through his scope at one of the best views we've had of a Bittern here for a good while. Another Cetti's Warbler sang here as the first of several Snipe croaked in the darkness as they flew off the reserve to feed elsewhere.

Last thing was to nip back to the FBC hide and see if the Barn Owl put in an appearance as it's been seen on the owl box on the island recently - it didn't - but we did see our first two Pipistrelle Bats of the year despite the plummeting temperature - crikey it was chilly.  One of the Little Owls (132) was sat up on it's usual barn to make up for the lack of the other owls.

And so ended a rather good day!

Where to next? Still more to come tomorrow as we've got another day off.

In the meantime let us know who's sitting side by side in your outback.