Getting it together

The mountain of tackle, strewn about my study, has been sifted through and I am now fairly confident that I've got all I will require for the coming holiday. I've made some hard choices, although I have to admit that they were made with a single scenario in mind. What would I feel like if I lost my first Scottish twenty because I was fannying about with gear that wasn't up to the job? The Redmire alarms, Duncan Kay's and Mitchell 300's - as enjoyable as they are, would soon lose their appeal if they cost me the fish, I so desire. If I screw up? That's down to me; a tackle failure is unforgivable, under these circumstances. I'm going up there to fish for a "big" pike - end of! My gear has been, therefore, selected accordingly. Over the weekend I will get it all out in the garden and get a photo, or two. It is a very impressive heap!

Especially for Steve Gale! One of the male Wheatears, on the kerb of the school car park.
I don't think that I have ever enjoyed birding more than I am at present?
Patch watching = birding purity

Out again, this morning, for a quick stroll, pre-dog walkers, around Newland's Farm. Two smart, little, male Wheatears, a White Wagtail and a dozen, or so, Swallows were as good as it got, although a Skylark, singing upon high, over the field behind the garden hedge, was most unexpected. The continued presence of several Meadow Pipits is very strange, they have never bred on the patch whilst I've been watching it. I'll continue to monitor the situation. Better news is of, what would appear, Song Thrush success over at the main farm garden. I saw a bird with a beak full of food on the pathway between Ellington Girl's School and the farm hedgerow.  What a sad indication of the current state of our countryside when breeding Song Thrush becomes a notable occurrence!