Thanks to Gary for his puzzle, report and photos from one of last week's foggy days.....
Rearrange these words to form a popular saying – Hand, face, in front of, your, can’t see. It really didn’t help other volunteers saying it was clear south of Storrington. At Pulborough Brooks it was foggy until mid-morning when it begrudgingly cleared into a bright cold sunny day.
At a frozen West Mead a few distant snipe could be made out through the murk but apart from them and one or two Pied Wagtails there was nothing in sight, so on to Winpenny. The fields at Redstart Corner held a number of Fieldfare and both Song and Mistle Thrushes giving a good comparison lesson, and the fenced off area had Meadow Pipits and a pair of Stonechat. At Winpenny the fog began to lift revealing at least another eight Snipe, but then a Crow became somewhat agitated as a Peregrine made a lunge at it, followed by an even closer attempt at the Crows mate as it dashed for the safety of the hedge. A little later the Peregrine was seen gaining at speed on a flock of Wigeon but went out of sight before the result was known.
Two small patches of ice free water on the North Brooks held most of the ducks, but only one Black-tailed Godwit. The strangest sight was a Grey Heron that was laying down; I was not sure if it was well but it stood up, had a preen, stood around for a while and then settled down again as if it was on a nest – very odd.
In the afternoon sunshine a Kestrel looked fantastic and Linnets were twittering in the treetops, you could almost believe spring was on its way.