April 6th 2008

Like everyone else in Warwickshire we woke to the novelty of having a couple of inches of snow so the countryside looked magical. Out with dave and our first stop was in the grandborough valley where we managed to watch a Barn Owl making its last flight of the evening looking splendid against a white background. Little else seen there apart from 3 Great-spotted Woodpeckers and 8 Skylarks so we checked hill rd and 14 Golden Plover were still present.
We arrived at Draycote just in time to see a Peregrine fly over the entrance and as we walked to toft bay the wind had picked up to give us a chill factor so it felt pretty strange to see Sand Martins and Swallow our summer visitors flying over snow. In a short visit we managed Fieldfare 4, Redwing 6, Chiffchaff, Sand Martin 60, Swallow 2, House Martin 2, Buzzard 6, Sparrowhawk 2, Gadwall 2 and Teal 3.
After a pro-longed breakfast we the went to Brandon Marsh and had, Redshank 2, Ringed Plover 2, Oystercatcher 2, Sand Martin 40, Swallow, Kingfisher 2, Chiffchaff 8 and Willow Warbler 3 and as fatigue set in we stood on Lawford Heath for twenty minutes to wake up but saw very little apart from Raven 2 and Buzzard 4.

Richard