I had arranged to meet up with Bassist on Thursday at Marshside near Southport. There has been recent sightings of Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint and a drake Garganey we were both keen to see.

Due to a prior appointment with my dentist and then good old British Rail, it was 12.30pm by the time I got there. Bassist had called me while I was on the train to say that the Curlew Sandpipers were right outside Nels hide and I should go straight there.

I jumped in a taxi at...

I met up with Bassist in Preston for an early morning trek around Leighton Moss this morning. We arrived at about 8am and set off to the public hide to begin with.

We hung around by the grit trays for a while, but no sign of the Bearded tits. Plenty of Sedge Warblers though and loads of Swift and Swallows. Bassist spotted a male and female Bullfinch in the lower branches of a tree.

The public hide had all the usual suspects; Coots & Tufties etc. I was eager to see...

Is anyone else having problems with tide times?

After work on Monday morning I had planned to do a bit of sea-watching at Starr Gate, South Blackpool.

High tide was supposed to be 07.41, according to the BBC tide tables. That's GMT, so allowing for BST, high tide would be 08.41

My boss allowed me to take some time accrued, so I was able to leave work early and arrived at Starr Gate for 7am - 1 hour 40 minutes before high tide - GREAT!

The trouble...

I was stuck in the house this morning for reasons beyond my control and had to put off a planned trip to Marshside.

Not wanting to be stuck in all day, I made a quick trip to my local park instead, in the afternoon when my time was my own again.

It was a beautiful spring afternoon, sunny but not too warm, with a few families out on the lake in the bright red motor boats for hire and hoardes of babies in pushchairs with doting Mum's & Dad's.

I spent...

I was determined to pay an early morning visit to Leighton Moss today and dragged myself out of my nice warm pit at 5.30am to get there just before 8am.

It was all worth it though. The sun was begining to break through some dull looking clouds and was warming me up nicely, birds were singing everywhere, the trees are getting more and more foliage and there was hardly anybody about.

I walked along the causeway to the public hide to begin with, stopping by the grit trays...