Golden Plover in the Axe Valley

I headed out on the bicycle in the sleet/snow/rain after work as a text from Steve alerted me to the presence of 300+ Golden Plover near to the A3052. The view from Cownhayne lane was okay, although the distance wasn't ideal (the birds were usually about 200 metres or so away). The light was appalling for photography; it was pretty dark at 16:00 and the rain didn't help the clarity of the images. They're the first ones I've ever seen believe it or not, and here are some (terrible) pics of them:

I'll give it another go tomorrow if there's any light left by the time I finish work.

Finally, a post with birdlife!!

To those of you who check this blog regularly, I can only apologise for how absent of entries it has been of late. I feel guilty seeing my daily pageviews without me posting any new content! There's a few reasons for my lack of blogging; the main one being some *ahem* health problems (to put it mildly). Some of you saw various cables attached to me a while ago, it was a bit of a job to hide them... my dicky heart was under observation. However, that's been a problem for a while now and more recent issues are significantly more problematic (let's not go there!!!). I'll just say that I'm pretty restricted in travelling at the moment as I'm not meant to drive whilst on my medication(s). Well, more than one of my medications stipulate this, and they also interfere with each other thereby enhancing the problems associated with the meds and driving. The other reason is what my workload has been like of late meaning I haven't been able to get out in daylight since November (worked a stupid number hours in December. Combined with my various 'problems' this proved to be a mistake as I ended up having an involuntary period of unconsciousness in church on Christmas morning...).

On a more pleasant note, I had a couple of daylight hours free yesterday afternoon so I went for a walk along the River Coly. I was hoping for Dipper and to at least hear a Kingfisher; but neither came to fruition. I did sneak up on a Grey Wagtail (it was surprisingly flighty) and took a few snaps, and also saw a few Treecreepers. Shots are very unspectacular but they're the first I've been able to take for a couple of months so here they are anyway:

Happy new year!

Okay so we're 4 hours into 2013... hopefully it'll be a good year of birding on the patch! I am still alive (just); this blog has been quiet due to a few consecutive 80+ hour working weeks recently. I'll probably do a review of 2012 or a small compilation of best pics soon, should time permit it.