Wednesday 2nd January (A Tick in the Book)

This morning Mr. Kite had some things to do before he could enjoy a cycle ride and a spot of bird-watching. In fact Mr. Kite had to find the number on an alarm module to shut the thing up. The magic number is 41133.

Anyway with the magic number safely stored Mr. Kite set out to Polemere to find a red-crested pochard. Now this was not a little bit of twitching but a destination that Mr. Kite often reaches for the peace and tranquility of a pleasant little hide.

So in the early afternoon Mr. Kite arrived at Polemere where a few bird-watchers were watching birds. Expecting to be told where the red-crested pochard was Mr. Kite was informed that it had been replaced with a green-winged teal; what a green-winged teal.

Some people are very kind and a kind person called Geoff focused his scope on the duck in question and said, "Have a ganders at that." Mr. Kite looked into the scope to see a fabulous teal with a vertical white stripe on its front; a green-winged teal. Some ticks in the book are as easy as that.

Now in this age of modern technology it was not long before all the birders from all over the place started to arrive. Soon the place was filled with twitchers sitting there 'like ducks to water'. At this point Mr. Kite headed home via the country lanes looking for more birds. Lots of jackdaws, rooks and wood pigeons were spotted.

Another good day in Shropshire.