Sunday 9th January (The Ice Age Continues)

Mr. Kite looked out of his bedroom window to see a blue sky and ice in the gutter. As it was Sunday he walked one hundred metres to the paper shop and purchased a newspaper. He then made some coffee and went back to bed to read it.

Shortly afterwards he went downstairs to put the breadmaker on, mix some batter for Yorkshire pudding and boiled the chestnuts for the nut loaf. With a few people expected at tea time some of the food was prepared before he went birding.

Mr. Kite thought long and hard about where to go for a few hours. The wind was chilly, guests were expected for tea, ice covered the main pools and the beast was not up to scratch. After some thought he decided to take his telescope to the lagoon and look closely at the wild life there. So with the scope and tripod on his back he cycled the two miles to the lagoon.

On reaching the lagoon he noticed that the ice was thicker than previously and once again the birds had flown. A Lesser Black-backed Gull flew over as a small flock of Black-headed Gulls noisily flew in circles over the water. Mr. Kite then set his scope to about fifty times magnification and scoured the trees and bushes a few hundred metres away. Wood Pigeons and Stock Doves sat perched as the chilly westerly wind blew. In the fir trees, with the pristine cones, Mr. Kite expected to see some of the Aegithalidae family hanging around pecking at the fruit; but nothing appeared.

Generally Mr. Kite sits in the hide at Monkmoor lagoon on his own but today a fellow birder arrived. This birder took out his note-book and recorded his sighting; this did not take long so the 'birder with his note-book' chatted awhile before they both left leaving the lagoon and its hide in peace. On the return trip the beast had a front wheel puncture but Mr. Kite nursed the beast back to the garden shed where it would spend the night.

Now thoughtfully Mr. Kite had put some beer in the fridge before he left. So when his guests arrived in mid afternoon they all enjoyed some Lindemanns Kriek (Belgian Cherry Beer). However they did go on to eat Chestnut Roast, Yorkshire Pudding, Vegetarian Glamorgan Sausage and drink too much red wine, white wine and Becks beer. Prost.