Song thrush

After a morning of doing useful but boring things, I took myself off to Tiddesley Wood this afternoon, in search of birds. It was fortunate that I'd remembered (for once) to take field glasses with me, because I had a very frustrating time with the camera, and it was only the fact that I was able to watch very distant birds, such as a preening wren, through the binoculars that rescued the experience. I managed record shots of a jay (the first I've seen since we moved out of London a quarter of a century ago) and a coal tit, but totally failed with a goldcrest and a tree creeper.

After trudging through the wood I was cold and thirsty, so I drove the extra five minutes to Croome for a coffee, and then went to look for for the Snape and Lickmoor wetlands, which lie outside the usual visitor trail around the park (presumably for the protection of the wildlife). I found both reed beds, though they appeared to be devoid of birds, and wound up walking round a substantial part of the estate before heading back to the car. My phone has registered 11,062 steps for the day, and my knees concur with the count.

The only birds which sat for their portraits today were a singing robin and this song thrush, and the thrush gets the nod because I haven't blipped one before. I've added an extra of the view back towards the house from the lake, graced by a nicely-placed rainbow.