Wednesday 2nd March (Super Sunny Salop)

Mr. Kite looked out of his bedroom window onto a cool dull March morning. With the cold dark mornings of winter a thing of the past it was now time for Mr. Kite to enter into the spirit of the emerging spring.

Mr. Kite phoned his 'birding companion' and soon they were cycling along towards the Long Mynd. The Snowdrops were in bloom and a few Daffodils appeared in sheltered areas. Song Thrushes sang, House Sparrows chirped and a cooing Collared Dove was tidying up a nest.

The Rookery at Pulverbatch was busy preparing for the forthcoming cacophony, eggs and chicks. The noise had started, the courting displays in full flight and the clamour for nest building material underway. This was a busy purposeful area. Nearby newly born lambs bleated and Easter bunnies not far away.

 Mr. Kite and his 'birding companion' stopped and walked around the Motte and Bailey at Castle Pulverbatch. Now Mr. Kite will let you into another secret. Castle Pulverbatch is a great place to have a picnic, drink a cup of tea or just sit. It is a truly wonderful old ruin. Today it was a place to watch birds and listen to the Rooks cawing.

The old men then returned to the beasts and cycled between Huglith Hill and Westcott Hill stopping to watch a Red Kite, Ravens and the views. Todays target was to walk up Paulith Bank and soon Mr. Kite and his birding companion had parked the bikes and were heading towards the summit. They followed a few tracks and walked over dead ferns for a short cut disturbing the odd Pheasant and a Meadow Pipit. With a few rays of sun streaming through some gaps in the cloud the Meadow Pipit took steeply to the air revealing a brown and black streaked back with white edges to it's tail. The burst of flapping wings gave it lift and a bobbing flight before folding in it's wings and returning to the moorland.

Now from the summit of Paulith Bank Mr. Kite and his 'birding companion' looked at the Shropshire landscape including the rugged Stiperstones and the Ravens and Buzzards. With the sun warming the earth they slowly returned to the bikes and home along quiet lanes.

Now the birding competition was a draw. Mr. Kite went home to enjoy a Tetley tea. Cheers from a super, sunny Salop.