A GREAT morning on the patch

Working at home is the 'new normal' for me.

I was doing just that when I got a call from Alan Priest to say that Dave Elliott had found a Great Reed Warbler on my patch and had been trying to get hold of me. The benefits of flexible and home working and a clear diary meant that I could just go - and I did.

The bird was at he western end of the big pool. As I walked beyond the two hides towards the stile, I could hear the great reed singing and I was 130m or more from where it was. I got to the area and Dave was still there and great reed was still singing, drowning out the Eurasian reed warblers.

After a quick chat Dave left, shortly after the bird did exactly what Dave had already seen it do, it came down into the close-by willows, pursued by reed warblers, stopped a while and then off back into the reeds wit the reed warbler in pursuit - they didn't appreciate it's company. And then it all went quiet - both the great reed and Eurasian reeds went silent. Birders started to arrive and I told them about it's behaviour before heading off myself to leave some room and to go back to work.

It was great that everyone I saw was sensible, nobody went where they shouldn't and everyone socially distanced.

I didn't get any photos as it was chucking it down when I left but Dave Elliot has a great shot on his blog. Well done to Dave for finding it  - he has a great track record with this species

A GREAT new bird for the patch taking my list to 251 (if the Baikal teal gets accepted).