A Chinese themed 24 hours

Last night after staring at empty shelves in the local supermarket, the shelves were bare of bread, milk, any fresh meat, pasta, toilet rolls, any cleaning products, paracetamol, ibuprofen (don't take ibuprofen if you think you have the Coronavirus), frozen chips and frozen vegetables. I did manage to buy a pack of Chinese Chicken pot noodle soup, a delicacy I haven't tasted for a long while and I reminisced about my visit to China aboard the Wildwings June 1999 trip with Ricky & Andrew E as companions. We were on a train for the long journey from Beijing to Beidehei. Some staff handily came along the aisle and handed out a plastic cup of Chinese pot noodle, someone else came round with boiling water and the resultant concoction was absolute delicious and very tasty. I remember the wondrous look of surprise on all our faces when we tried it. The soup today reminded me of those halcyon days and the extreme sense of anticipation and wonder of the avian delights we were about to encounter at Beidehei, we were not to be disappointed! Oh, how I wish I had the camera set up I have today, to record those fine encounters with the local indigenous and migratory wildlife, but I digress. A trip to Carlton Marshes from 3.30pm today, Wednesday 18 March, revealed a singing Chiff- Chaff, my first of the year. I parked at the end of the Lane by the railway line, although I didn't see it. There was a grey leaden sky and little was on show save for a distant Buzzard perched on a wooden gate and a very curious but wonderfully pale golden coloured Chinese Water Deer (hence the title of this blogpost) that just stood and looked at me in the field beside the footpath. A male Marsh Harrier quartered the fields. I walked slowly along the path and managed a few shots before it slowly walked away. These Deer are becoming very common along the marshes and I must have see around 20 individuals. 3 Barn Owl seen, 1 seen hunting really close briefly and 1 slightly further away plus a distant bird hunting the reed/ field edge. But again no sign of the mega elusive SEOs which seem to be eluding me whether I go (7th attempt in recent weeks for this species). A crackling Fieldfare had one perch up high in the poplars and 3 Stonechat (2 females and 1 male) seen too.