Green Woodpecker #100

After a busy two days we looked at the weather and decided it was good enough for a trip to Burton Mere with the intention of dropping in to Parkgate for an hour in the afternoon, but it didn’t quite work out like that. It was a really lovely morning with some good light but little close enough to photograph as is often the case at Burton Mere. We were thrilled to have seen the Little Stint that has apparently been around for over a week, and there was quite a large flock of Curlew to be seen from the Marsh Covert hide, but no sign of the Red Breasted Mergansers at the Bridge Pool. We walked the new boardwalk and then over the railway bridge towards Burton Point. There were lots of winter thrushes feeding on the ground in the field, mostly fieldfare, the occasional redwing and a couple of Mistle thrushes. Amongst the other birds feeding were some starlings, goldfinch and a meadow pipit(extras)which was going to be my 100th bird blipped this year until we saw the green woodpecker. It was poking around what I am assuming were ant hills for a few minutes and then flew up into a tree. I was delighted to have finally had more than a fleeting glimpse of this large woodpecker as it has been on my list for ages.  And of course now I know where to find them next time!  The showers started and the light disappeared so the Owls at Parkgate will have to wait until another day...

It’s been a frustrating couple of days. Dad’s hip operation was cancelled again due to something that was picked up in October’s pre-op! (Nothing was noticed during the pre-op he had 10 days ago!) I took him for an Echo and ECG yesterday but they could find nothing wrong. This is obviously great news, but because his op was supposed to be today, it was cancelled beforehand in case there was anything of concern. I know this is the correct thing to do, but if only they had done the Echo and ECG last week, he would now be the proud owner of a new hip today! Who knows how long he will have to wait now. 

I will try and catch up with your journals in the next day or so. I don’t think I’ve missed more than a couple of days.