Silence was deafening

Well - I've got home after a complete waste of effort. The other guys, who were at the fishery, are there for the entire holiday period and I was left to take a very un-fancied swim which covered a shallow bay in the SW corner of the lake. I saw, or heard, nothing to suggest that there was a carp anywhere close during my entire stay. I will make no more excuses - I simply am not that good a carp angler to be able to turn up and expect to catch fish wherever I am fishing.

A lovely grassy area on which to pitch my bivvy.  Sandwich Coarse Fishery is a nice place to be - catching or not.

I prepared my two spots in a manner with which I was happy and my baits were positioned accordingly. I played around with bite indicators, switching from my tench swingers to hangers as the wind dropped away towards dusk making this change possible. I couldn't use monkeys on needles due to the platform I was perched upon - a situation which will be rectified very soon with a little Blue Peter technology.
Spent a while playing around with the camera, whilst the evening sun persisted, getting some shots of the pitch and my gear. On the plus side, I have to report no major issues with my bivvy, bed chair or sleeping bag - it's looking good for Loch Awe again.

A couple of views of the kit I was using and the layout of my pitch.

After a decent, uninterrupted, night's kip; I was awake at dawn listening to the early Spring dawn chorus. A Chiffchaff joined the Blackbirds, Robins, Chaffinches and Great Tits with a nice bonus of a Mistle Thrush belting out it's song from a nearby wooded area. A Little Owl and a Common Buzzard added to the noise and a Kingfisher perched, very briefly, in a Sallow adjacent to my rods as the sun started to break the horizon - there are worse ways to wake up?

An Andrena bee sp. - on our decking woodwork

A beautiful Easter Sunday, so I spent a while in the garden hoping that a Buzzard or two might decide to pass over Dumpton. A lone Sparrowhawk was as good as it got and I was reduced to wandering the garden with the extension tubes fitted. Not too much to get excited over, although I did manage to record my third butterfly species of 2015 when a Comma flew through. An Andrena bee sp. - sunning itself on the decking woodwork - was the best I could do with the camera.
So, it is very true that my angling was a complete flop, but my session wasn't without worth and life continues to provide enjoyment wherever I am, whatever I'm doing?