Awakening reptiles & Aldi?

 As I take Bruno for his morning walk out on the Minster Marshes, it makes perfect sense that I send any sightings worthy of merit into the team at Save Minster Marshes. Obviously the vast majority of what I report is bird related but, over the past couple of mornings, I have been fortunate to see (and photograph) both Common Lizard and a Slow Worm. In itself, not particularly noteworthy, but if it adds new species to the database, then so much the better. 

Common Lizard discovered under a sheet of corrugated tin

As a member of C&DAA I already have vehicular access to the area of marshland threatened by the plans of The National Grid to build the infrastructure for the import of electricity generated by the off-shore wind farms. I am fully aware of the urgent need to produce sustainable, green energy, but should that be at the cost of a National Nature Reserve (Pegwell Bay) and the associated SSSI areas? I'm confident that a compromise can be found and will continue to support the folk behind the SMM project with any records which I feel are worthy of note

This morning's Slow Worm

So where the bloody hell does Aldi fit into this post? Well, if you've been following my angling plans, you'll be aware of my Carp project which is now about to get started. As an angler, of a certain vintage, my total belief in the effectiveness of particle baits is not up for debate. Although I have seen the light, in respect of modern boilies and pellets for hook baits, the ability of a spread of particles to attract and hold feeding Carp remains as true today as it did when Jack Hilton was plying his craft back in the day. As I wrote, recently, my "party mix" is prepared at home, in a slow cooker, and is of a recipe which few others could be bothered to copy. One ingredient which I use, yet don't prepare myself, is sweetcorn. Is there a Carp swimming which will avoid this bait? And so, that's where Aldi comes into the mix. We have a local store less than a mile from our front door and, last year, I was buying 340grm tins for 72p each. No complaints, it worked a treat, so I needed to purchase a fresh supply for this season's endeavours. Not a shop I visit on a regular basis, I was completely blown away when I discovered that the same tin (although re-labelled) of sweetcorn was now 7p cheaper, than last year, at just 65p. I purchased a dozen cans and will probably repeat this in the next couple of weeks. I have already been out with the Carp gear, down at the local club Carp Puddle, landing two scamps for my efforts. I am experimenting with a new rig presentation, which I'd seen on a Korda YouTube offering. The "shot on the hook" rig has been about for twenty-odd years, yet it was only when Danny Fairbrass and the gang were able to show the effectiveness of this presentation, via an underwater offering, that it became something I needed to explore. To this end, I have got a couple of "Sundowner" sessions planned at Sandwich Coarse Fishery before embarking on that quest for a wild "thirty".