15th March
Up at Lower Fairsnape again. Lots of sunshine but very cold and quite windy. Sat in the birdhide to look for hares. Eventually found four spread out across the field making a superb job of looking like mole hills or grassy tussocks. All either feeding or stretching out in the sun and not taking much interest in each other, though one got chased off by two rabbits. Looked beautiful whenever the sun came out and made their fur a rich red that then stood out against the dead grasses. Saw my first ever close up view of a Redshank and realised I have been hearing their calls for ages but not known it. The redshank came and sat on a fence post right by the hide, it's plumage looked so soft and insulating though I thought it's legs looked more orange than red. All around there were lots of pairs of lapwings and Curlews. The lapwings kept making dizzying display flights and mobbed any crows that flew over and mobbed an unfortunate hare that got too close. Saw several Redshank flying down to the scrapes and a flock of what looked like thrushes in the far distance, probably Fieldfares(?) A large flock of starlings took off and whirled overhead. As we drove off a large hare strolled into the road ahead of us and ambled off, a lovely end to the day.
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