Expedition (The Search for the Weir!!)

 Tempted as I was by the Red-rumped Swallow at West Rise, the long drive and the idea of running the gauntlet of Water Buffalo fury, on top of two days hardcore (by my standards!) Birding decided me against it, also I overslept, can't even blame Margie today,😲 so an Easter lay-in it was!😁 

We decide to search for the mysterious "Round Weir", we had seen posts on a local Facebook Group but didn't really know where it was? Margie did some  research and consulted the stars and had narrowed the search area to somewhere off Malthouse lane!! So the expedition was on, we would trek across the vast steppes of the Hurst Meadows, cross the prairies beyond Hurst College and follow the raging torrent of the presumably ironically named "Herring Stream" until we stumbled on to the weir, kind of like Stanley looking for Livingstone but more daring!!😉Margie was in charge of navigation which is a bit worrying as her mantra tends to be "don't ask me you know I've got no sense of direction!!" although this generally doesn't stop her insisting on leading the way, so I allowed two days for the expedition whilst bookmarking my footpath App!!😂 

So off we went,  the Forget-me-nots in the garden are starting to look quite good but not carpeting "the lawn" yet, Blossom and flowers everywhere on our walk today in surprisingly warm sunshine, after yesterday's experience and listening to the weather forecast we had wrapped up warmly, what soon became obvious, was that this was a mistake, luckily I had put my sun hat in my pocket, a natty Khaki Kepi and was able to swap it for my woolly hat, of my two sunhat options, the other being a black cowboy style hat, the Kepi is Margie's least favourite asking me to walk 10 steps behind her as it looks completely ridiculous!! as opposed to the other one which only looks mildly ridiculous!!😲 obviously Margie is not really aware of fashion and wouldn't know cutting edge birding style if it bit her on the bum!!!

Forget-me-knots

Plum Blossom by Margie

Weeping Willow by Margie

First bird encounter was at the end of Weald Close, a Sparrowhawk sat in a tree that I spotted out of the corner of my eye, think it was one of the ones that has been frequenting our garden lately, so nice to see it "in the wild"

Sparrowhawk, bit distant but showed well

Sparrowhawk

Managed to work round for a different angle

Doesn't seem impressed but was still there when I left!!

The lateness of the day and the profusion of dogwalkers meant we saw very little across the Hurst Meadows (Despite the large signs on every entrance most of the dogs were off leads and running everywhere, Skylarks have zero chance of breeding on there to be honest, hopefully the insects will do well😢) It wasn't until we hit College Lane that sightings improved a couple Goldfinches landed right next to us and posed well singing Robins and Dunnocks were nice and a Heron stood sentinel like in a field, Margie's diminutive stature came to the fore here as I couldn't get a pic through the hedge but Margie found a gap low down and did the business!!

Goldfinch

Dunnock

Robin

Jack n Jill by Margie

View by Margie

Grey Heron by Margie

At this point we intercepted the Herring Stream, Margie's "instincts" told her we should head up stream, I had been gently guiding up to now, literally if we had followed her instincts we would have been in Brighton by now 😂but distracted by some interesting fish in the stream I agreed!! Big Mistake!!

Pretty sure this is a Brown Trout

Another Trout

Margie's picture of what I think is a Chub!

Although we were now heading in the wrong direction we still had some good sightings,4 Herons stood in a field, a Mistle Thrush, plenty of Chiffchaffs (all walk I tried to get pictures of birds singing in Blossom, failed completely😢) We watched Goose Wars on a small lake and a pair of Coot. We eventually found a local, after much confusion she pointed out we had gone the wrong way so we about faced and headed back (it is to my credit that there was zero gloating at this point!!😀) 

Heron

I like a silhouette occasionally

Mistle Thrush

Reflective Coot

I of course will not lower myself to take pics of these Feral beasts however Margie has no such qualms

Ok I completely missed the action but Margie was on it!!

Showing whose boss by Margie

Still not Happy, by Margie

We followed the stream, soon we began to hear the roar of the Weir in the distance and then we were there, imagine the first person to see Niagara Falls, then downsize it by a 1000% !! Although we did have a feeling of great accomplishment!!

The Weir on me phone

The Weir

The Weir by Margie

The Weir by Margie

Job done!!!!

We decided to head home, following the stream to Malthouse Lane, across to Danworth Lane then back through the Bluebell Wood although there were no Bluebells 😕 We had some good birds along the way a nice Nuthatch as the path hit Malthouse, 3 singing Blackcaps (which amazingly I correctly ID'd before seeing them, which never happens!!😲) a couple of Buzzards and a Wren having a paddle!

Stock Dove

Chiffchaff

Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard

Nuthatch

Nuthatch

Blackcap

Blackcap

Blackcap

Blackcap having a sing

Buzzard high against a Blue Sky

Obligatory Church pic with added heat haze

Great Tit

Wren having a paddle

Spring happening by Margie

Dandelion by Margie

Celandine patch by Margie 

So we made it home, a day and a half ahead of schedule😃 we celebrated with a couple of Hot Cross Buns, Margie produced an excellent Roast Chicken dinner, Organic obviously and I made a Chocolate Date and Cherry Tart which was very tasty but possibly a tad over-baked!!

The Tart, no soggy bottoms here!!