Joy.......and pain!

Hedge Accentor (Dunnock) Andy Cook

I arose bright and fairly early this morning and journeyed to the hallowed turf that is Wormwood Scrubs. After a two hour walk I had very little to show for my trouble. A male Stonechat (no doubt one of our wintering pair) was the highlight. No Meadow Pipits, no Snipe of any description flushed from the grassland and barely any small passerines in the trees bar a couple Robins and a sole Dunnock along the embankment.

Often overlooked, Dunnocks are great birds. I love their shuffling gait that they employ whilst they search for food on the ground. As a kid I likened them to red-breastless Robin Mouse Birds. Well you know how imaginative a kid's mind can be!

Back at HQ I managed to complete my new piece on birding in Norwich for Bird Watching Magazine, swiftly moving on to my next 50 projects (which included finishing my piece for the Conwy RSPB Reserve - if anyone from Conwy is reading!). I watched Manchester United trounce Chelsea at Old Trafford on TV which put me in an immeasurably good mood. Whilst celebrating over a home made soya hot chocolate, I managed to drop my Crackberry into my hot beverage!

The rescue mission was swift. I wiped it with a wet cloth and then frantically wiped it dry with paper towels. At first all seemed well and the patient seemed to be on course to making a full recovery. But then, when I started to try to send a text it all started to go very wrong. The simple text read: gfjfkl  ldnkf df;f;. 

Panic started to set in as I contemplated life without a Blackberry. It was strange, because I thought that elation would be my main emotion as I had been emancipated for the ties of modern technology. Instead, I was cold turkeying after barely 10 minutes without my phone.

As I write this I staring mournfully at my dying phone, dreading trying to sync my numbers before it finally expires. I must go now. I need to be alone...........