The joy of birding and FA Cup Football..!!

I did manage a pre match visit to the Farm yesterday and took a wander around the site. The Siberian Chiffchaff seemed to be in good voice and posed for photos with the glorious sunshine at its back! It almost look Willow Warbler esque!

There was a good few Redwing in the area with the odd Fieldfare passing through. The Cetti’s Warbler joined in the mini chorus from time to time! There are three plus birds on the Farm at the moment which is pretty amazing considering only a few years ago this species was considered a MEGA on the Farm.

A Buzzard took a troubled flight across 100 Acre hotly pursued by Corvids. This is a regular obstacle for any raptor that dares to traverse the Farm boundaries.

A walk back to the North Lake had me spying a Black Swan that was spending its third day being chased around the lake by an aggressive Mute Swan. I guess it will gain in physical fitness over time! A couple of Caspian Gull had been seen by Pete Alfrey during my travels but not a bad day at my patch.

(picture taken from Skysports)

The final accolade goes to my local football teams giant killing in the FA Cup 3^rd round replay against AFC Wimbledon (The true Dons!) last night. I have witnessed some amazing results and played in some giant killing matches myself (some 100years ago!!) but Sutton Utd pulled a huge rabbit out of a small hat last night! The poor away league form and its frustrations disappeared in the blink of an eye when Rory, Maxi and Dan sealed passage into the next round!

I witnessed the victory over Coventry at Gander Green Lane in 1989 and a few other FA Cup successes by this club over the years but I rate this one as good if not better bearing in mind the science that goes into football today! But this is what the FA Cup is all about and the many friends made along the way! Understandably we all went crazeeee... I feel like I have been in a car crash and look forward to getting my voice back!! Thanks to the AFC officials and stewards for being friendly and great hosts! 

The U’s I salute you.. Bravo!! I look forward to the next game!

Now to get myself together for a flight to Bulgaria at stupid o clock tomorrow!!