Sandwich from the chiller

Woke to find frost on the car. Darren called while I was defrosting it so
ditched it and went in his car. First stop Broom (naturally) and jammed in
to another Sandwich Tern sat on a post - my seventh in Beds this year! It
was only there about four minutes before a Sparrowhawk flew over the gull
colony and flushed everything. The Sarnie circled up high and headed off
south.

We waited round just in case anything else flew in, but apart from a
Greenshank, Common Sand, Snipe, and a Little Egret, nothing did. We went to
have a look at Stewartby, just in case. It was dead as a door-nail. Broggy
was just the same so we went for a wander in the woods instead.

Over an hour later and we had very little to show for our efforts.
Goldcrests seemed to have been decimated by last winter's cold snap, and our
meagre Firecrest population seems to have gone the same way - none again on
this visit.

Popped up to Coopers Hill on the off-chance of Tree Pipit, but no joy.
Highlight was bumping in to Paul Wright, who I hadn't seen for a few months.
We chewed the fat for a while, saw nothing, and parted company. We went off
to Rookery.

Just as we got out the car at Rookery Rob called. "Hoopoe on Blows!" But
he'd lost it flying away from him. Bum. Do we go and help them look, or
check out Rookery first? Rookery won. A lovely hour was spent gazing over
this wonderful wetland in the heart of Beds. The best birds were at least
one drake Garganey milling around the reedbeds, and confirmed breeding
Black-headed Gulls - five nests. There was no further sign of the epops all
afternoon.

Darren wanted a cup of tea we intended to go to MVCP, and did, but never got
to the cafe. We ended up looking for the Cetti's but it was better at
playing hide-and-seek than us. Two Cuckoo's performed brilliantly though!

A cup of tea and a monster burger at Little Chief later, we then went out to
some old gravel workings near Salford. Unfortunately they were now past
their best, but we did see Yellow Wag, Lapwings, and plenty of Linnets.
Also had a displaying Meadow Pipit, which is always nice to see.

By early afternoon we were knackered, so ended up going home. I cut the
grass, had a quick ride round on the off-chance of a Dotterel, and ended the
day with a lovely roast.