Beautiful day

Sometimes I have to wonder why I'm so bloody silly? This morning, after an excellent evening at Terry & Debbie's house celebrating our 11th Wedding Anniversary - I left home at 06.00 hrs to fish the RMC. The car display was reading -1C in Thanet, by the time I arrived at Folkestone it was down to -3C. Clear skies and zero wind ensured that the section I had picked was frozen over - what a prick? Plan B involved driving through Hythe to fish the Aldergate area, at least there is some flow on the water despite the low level. Wrong - it must have been right on high tide and the canal was static - the only area I could fish was where a large group of Mallards had congregated, thus keeping the surface ice free. I managed to get two baits out before the falling tide ensured that the surface ice started moving, catching my line as it passed. My ploy of sinking my rod tips countered that particular problem but did little to prevent a steady build up of suspended debris on my line. The net result being false alarms as the monkeys were dragged up the needles.
It was, however, a glorious morning - the predicted fog failing to materialise. So birding the canal became the main event, the fishing being little more than a joke! I recorded six Little Egret, 2 Kingfisher, 1 Little Grebe, the red-head Goosander, 2 Treecreeper, 1 Yellowhammer, 5 Fieldfare and a Merlin - not bad for a pike session. By 10.30 hrs I'd had enough - packing up was rather slow due to my hands being numb. The wind had started to pick up and wet hands quickly chilled. My long walk back to the car was enlivened by bumping into Brian Harper, who was standing in a gateway scoping a Little Owl. The conversation was pleasant, including confirmation of my gut feeling that the "grey geese" I'd seen on Sunday were, indeed, White-fronts.
The drive home was far safer than the outward journey, temperatures had risen to well above zero and the roads were drying nicely. Two Common Buzzards were noted, within the Thanet boundary, as I drove along the new by-pass, my only sighting of the day. I unloaded the car and was in the back garden putting my, un-used, bait back into the freezer when I spotted a Chiffchaff in our buddlieas. I grabbed my camera from my fishing bag, fitted the long lens and returned. Happily I managed a few shots in the bright sunshine - a good garden record for December.

It is a bit surreal - Brian and I were chatting about the scarcity of Chiffchaffs at the western end of the
RMC, he'd seen one on a previous visit. To discover one in my back garden was a real bonus.

The afternoon was spent over at my daughter's house playing with the grand-kids and generally getting up to mischief. So it was rather a surprise when Sarah said that she'd found something of mine - similar to that box of slides! This time it was a pin badge that I'd had on my old hat - an original Pike Anglers Club one. Result!
I put it on my current headgear, it really looks the part. I might look a complete twat, when I'm wearing it, but my head stays warm and the badges, Bev has sown on, speak volumes about the guy below.

There won't be too many of these badges still in existence?
I will wear it with pride - another symbol of my angling heritage.