Thursday 3rd January (A Gentle Cycle on a Pleasant Day)

After completing a few chores Mr. Kite saddled The Bike and set off towards Polemere cycling through a wet Quarry along a flooded river and down roads with ditches each side full of flowing water. There would not be a water shortage this year and judging by the volume of the liquid around; the water companies will be paying us to take it away.

Soon Mr. Kite was once again at Polemere fo find an obliging green-winged teal sitting on the side of the mere showing two vertical white bars. There is nothing like stripes to show status. Having located the 'special one' Mr. Kite looked at the moorhens in fine winter plumage.

With the hide beginning to bulge with twitchers Mr. Kite made a move and cycled towards the town searching the fields for ground-feeding birds. Large flocks of fieldfare and redwings moved across the wet ground feeding voraciusly. In the hedgerow a pair of mistle thushes watched. The wet sodden fields must have produced a bumper crop of slugs and worms for this years ground-feeding birds.

After stopping near a flooded brook at Condover to watch a greater-spotted woodpecker Mr. Kite moved onto Venus Pool to see pochard, a pink-footed goose and a sparrowhawk.

So another mild January day finished with the list slowly creeping along.