22nd March. White Arse

Apologies if I've said this before but "Whetears give me the horn"! There's something about these hardy chats that fires something off in me giving me a sudden rush of adrenalin. I don't know what it is about them or why they have this affect on me - they just do. So a nice drake this morning was more than welcome as I trudged up the muddy track from the largest of Orgreaves two lagoons. It's the same rush every spring - a flash of white, a warm all over fuzzy feeling and a sense of euphoria comes over me as though I'd just found a top draw 'rare'. Subsequent early spring birds have the same affect but come mid-October the flash of white usually leaves me cursing "bollocks it's just a Wheatear"! What fickle creatures we birders are.