Tuesday 1st February (First Official Day of the Sunbathing Season)

Mr. Kite looked out of his bedroom window to see some sunshine. In one hours time he knew he would be saying goodbye to a French speaking Canadian; hopefully it was au revoir and not bon voyage. Mr. Kite has a short bird story relating to this person. Last April the diminished Kite tribe were sojourning in the Loire Valley. The person in question went for a brisk morning walk along the mighty and magnificent Loire. On return this person said, "Something funny has happened I just heard a bird that sounds just like a cuckoo clock". Now if you had never seen or heard a cuckoo before, and only heard a cuckoo clock, you would not know that cuckoo clocks are based on a real bird; the cuckoo.

After fixing a puncture in the rear wheel of the beast Mr. Kite set off, just before noon, for Monkmoor Lagoon. Today something different happened when Mr. Kite arrived at the start of the lane leading to the hide; the gate was open. Normally the gate is locked and Mr. Kite has to dismount and wheel his bike through a small pedestrian gate. Today he just whizzed straight down the lane without any fuss.

When Mr. Kite looked over the lagoon he could see a thin layer of ice covering about half the water surface. Sitting on the ice were fifty Black-headed Gulls, eight Shoveler and two Mallards. In the reeds sat a forlorn Grey Heron. Mr. Kite was busy looking at the gulls when he noticed a movement about two metres away from the hide. Moving his head slowly Mr. Kite looked down to see a splendid Red Fox. This fox was searching for food on the ground. The animal sniffed and scratched the surface or the ground and pushed dead leaves out of the way. After a few minutes the walked below Mr. Kite and then started sniffing the air. Now Mr. Kite had showered this morning and changed his socks but the fox's nostril sensed a smell he was not familiar with a quickly ran off. Mr. Kite does not smell of course.

Half an hour later Mr. Kite left the lagoon and cycled down the Old Shrewsbury Canal towards Haughmond Hill. In the sunshine Mr. Kite noticed a Buzzard and a Magpie. Now there are many Buzzards and Magpie in this area so why should Mr. Kite particularly notice these. The reason is that they were sitting side by side on a branch. With the sun shining on the breast of the Buzzard it showed an arc of symmetrical golden-yellow feather between the wings; it looked like the gold metallic chain worn by a Mayor. The Magpie's bright white breast stood out. Mr. Kite was surprised to see this pair perched side by side and chatting away. Mr. Kite watched them chat and thought to himself that 'the Magpie was telling the dignified Buzzard about the proposed Magpie cull and warning him that the Buzzard would be next on the cull list'.

At the end of the canal path Brock the Sleeping Badger was still there lying in the sun. It was there yesterday, as Wilfred Owen wrote in Futility, 'If anything might rouse him now, The kind old sun will know'. So Mr. Kite hoped the sun might do the trick but he had his doubts.

Mr. Kite cycled along the edge of the hill through the deciduous trees listening to the bird songs. Eventually Mr. Kite parked the beast and walked part of the way up the hill and sat on a stump with good views of the surrounding bare tree tops. Mr. Kite was hoping to watch Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers. Sitting around in the sun Mr. Kite was enjoying the first session of sun-bathing for the new year scanning the trees. He heard the familiar liquid, "pi, pi, pi" of the Nuthatch. In the sunshine the Nuthatch was a dazzling spectacle. Now Thomas Bewick has a lovely description of the Nutjobber or Woodcracker. He wrote, 'the length is near six inches; bill strong, black above, beneath almost white; the eyes hazel; a black stroke passes over each eye, from the bill, extending down the side of the neck as far as the shoulder; all the upper parts of the body is of a fine blue grey; the cheeks and chin white; breasts and belly of a pale orange; sides marked with streaks of chestnut; quills dusky; the tail is short, the two middle feathers grey, the rest dusky, three of the outermost spotted with white; legs pale yellow; claws large, sharp and much bent, the back claw very strong; when extended the foot measures one inch and three quarters.

Mr. Kite watched the Nuthatch walked up a tree trunk and along a horizontal branch where it used it's strong bill to uproot luscious green lichen from the textured oak bark and then search the crevices for grubs. In the pleasant warmth Mr. Kite sat happily watching. The woodpeckers stayed in their holes this afternoon so Mr. Kite then started for home. With another puncture Mr. Kite pushed the beast along until he reached a picnic table on the Old Canal. With the sun still shining Mr. Kite sat on a bench, rolled up his sleeves and absorbed more ultra-violet rays.

With the sun now dropping below the horizon Mr. Kite headed for home where his tipple for the day was a Tetley tea bag.