Location, Location Location - 18/04/2014

An early start for the annual survey had me up at half past five this morning, though after having been up early twice in the week for the gym it wasn't all that bad oddly enough! The sunrise held the promise of nice weather, and I wasn't disappointed as it was a stunning day for it.

The first bird I saw upon arrival was a wheatear on a nearby post, which turned out to be one of three. A great start! There was still good numbers of skylarks and mippits, but my heart sank at the 5th 100m mark, because there seemed to be no sign of last year's GP's.

I geared up for the last transect, when low and behold suddenly there they were! A small flock had appeared to my right. I carefully moved forward, and realised there was another bigger flock directly ahead of me smack bang in the middle of the transect line.

The birds were soon airborne together and both groups merged into one, circling at first low, and then high above me, sparkling like glitter in the clear blue of the morning. At one point they seemed almost to hang in the air, no doubt being buffeted by the strong wind at that level, but it gave an amazing effect, like golden fire suspended in a deep blue. I'm only gutted the camera wasn't able to capture that effect in still frames, because it was sublime, and I'm not one to wax lyrical about things!

A count of 36 plover this year, in contrast to last year's handful!

A superb experience, and a morning I will never forget.