Of Mist and Moorhens

I thought, I've got a lot on today so I'll nip out at first light and see what's cracking off on the local patch.
That was a bad idea.
I arrived at the Orchard Centre as the sun was breaking the horizon but visibility was atrocious due to the swirling mists!
Don't get me wrong: it was very pretty. Just not good birding conditions. I got a couple of low quality Iphone photos but I think they capture the mood:

Dawn at the Orchard Centre

Ah well, I thought.  I'll chance me arm and have a shufty down at the hide.
Crumbs! It was even worse there by the waters edge. Peering through the gloom I could make out 4 or 5 Moorhens carrying out their morning ablutions. And then - diddly squat.
To be fair there may well have been the twitch of the year somewhere out there but there was no chance of seeing it!
So I went for a walk.
The mist began to clear and I clocked plenty of hedgerow birds: Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-Tailed Tits, a Chiffchaff, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Jays and good numbers of Redwings, Robins and Blackbirds. Nothing that would prompt a text to Rare Bird Alert!
A Red Fox trotted along the hedgerow in front of me and then as I passed one of the ponds on the way back to the car a Reed Bunting alighted on a bullrush. I took some snaps but the lighting was still poor and they're not great (they certainly won't stand being cropped!). Nice bullrushes though!

Reed Bunting

I thought I'd round off the trip with a run down to Ashleworth Ham where a Bar Headed Goose had been seen the day before.
Met a very nice chap down there - Hello Martin! (bit of a legend - saw a Dartford Warbler yesterday!) The Bar Headed Goose was still there, in a huge throng of nearly 1000 Canada Geese. Again, lighting too poor for a good photo (check http://www.birder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk for photos from yesterday) but what a stunning bird it is.