2nd January. A Pie New Year

As the clock struck twelve the list hit zero and for a brief moment I was sad that my years efforts had come to an end, but soon the Unicum had kicked in and I was feeling more optimistic about the coming year and just a little bit pissed.

Nasty nasty nasty stuff

The First Pies Of The New Year

Spent the last day of 2011 at Slimbridge -why? Well we were down at the brother-in-laws for New Year - just a stones throw from last years Oriental Turtle Dove, and Slimbridge being just fifty miles away seemed a good bet for a day out. Obviously we saw lots of nice ducks with half their wings missing and some that had got there under their own steam. However the highlight was an half hour question and answer session on the Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks that have been brought there with the aim of breeding, and eventually boosting the woefully low number of breeding birds. Following a brief talk we were treated to some live on site CCTV footage of the young (most of which had now attained 1st winter plumage). Ok so it wasn't Samut Sakorn, but it's probably the nearest I'll ever get to these enigmatic birds.