IDCD, you can get pills for that

The annual International Dawn Chorus Day walk at the Newport Wetlands was met with a strangely subdued effort by the birds in and around the reedbeds.  Heard most of the regulars, and had a single Grasshopper Warbler, but both the quantity of song and intensity of delivery was a all a bit meh.  Luckily, a brief (very brief for me) sighting of an Otter saved the day, at least for those that reacted sharpish on hearing the finders' call and managed to get on it as it slunk off into the reeds.  A flippin' patch tick,... and a furry one at that!