Zombie walking!

The shuffling slow gait and sickening pale palour that greeted onlookers at the newly named Blue Lokes causeway at Lound on Saturday 20th April, heralded the arrival of a very sick person who resembled either a very old man or a zombie, who'd suffered 3 very debilitating days of sickness, (it was me!) I had been sick at least 50 times & I hadn't eaten for three days, I had been suffering either a sickness bug or a severe bout of food poisoning. Not strong enough to carry the camera bag, I was able to just about concentrate on birding and soon focussed in on one the objects of my quest, a fine female Pied Flycatcher showing well in the sallows to the east. She flitted around here before flying over to the track and flitting about elusively in the large trees just west of the track. A family of walkers were far too quick for me and my deathly slow shuffling gait, meant I missed the Ring Ouzel that they flushed in the next field south of here. Back at the causeway a fine male Blackcap sang briefly from a large tree. Earlier driving down I had seen my first Whitethroat of the year fly along the hedgerow on the approaches to Lound and finally I was delighted to see the regular Little Owl fly into the regular brutally pollared tree with what appeared to be a large worm in its mouth. This excursion of just 30 yards had completely exhausted me and I spent the rest of the day in bed, but I'm glad to say the sickness had subsided and I was starting to eat a few morsels. Earlier on, Saturday 20th April, during early morning, I had heard the scolding of a Lesser Whitethroat from our bedroom window eminating somewhere on Fallowfields. My first record of this species for the year.