Purple Rain

Red Kites over The Scrubs? Surely that's next? (Russell F Spencer)

Talk of purple patches ending were both premature and unfounded. This morning whilst I was in a meeting, fellow Scrubber Anders Price sent me a text to say that he had just found a Woodlark sitting on a path near Chats Paddock. After my meeting I hot footed from Park Lane to The Scrubs in the vain hope of seeing this bird - the third record for Wormwood Scrubs.

Did I mention the rain?

As I clambered through the grassland in the pouring rain my dreams of seeing this apparently confiding little lark were washed away too. Needless to say, I never saw it, but at least I found the previous two birds. Some consolation I suppose.

Yesterday, I learnt that I have been commissioned by BBC Wildlife Magazine to write a monthly step-by-step guide to becoming a birder. I'm delighted and it's a departure from just writing about urban birding.

I hope that you all check it out.