With a Caspian Tern arriving at Idle Valley N.R, Nottinghamshire early on Saturday morning and appearing settled for the rest of the day. Just apart from re-locating to Slaynes Lane, Misson, a trip to see it was talked about with Mark K and Dave W. The plan was, if the bird was still present early Sunday morning, that myself and Dave W would drive the 70 odd miles to see it. What we didnt know was that there appeared to be two Caspian Terns in the area! At 7am news was positive and the green light was on. Picked Dave W up in Huddersfield and by 9-45am we had seen the bird quite well as it preened and had a couple of fly arounds, what a smart bird. There always seems to be a small influx of this species about this time every year. A Wood Sandpiper was also seen along with lots of the more common types of water birds, ducks, gulls etc. At about 10-30am we decided to visit RSPB Langford Lowfields near Collingham, Notts to see the long staying Great Reed Warbler, that has been present since the 6th June. This species is also found in the Mediterranean area of Europe where it breeds in various reed beds. Its song is very loud and can be heard from a couple of hundred yards away. After a kilometre walk we called into the information centre and were told that it will not be easy to see the bird, due to the strong, warm wind that was moving the reeds around. After about 40 minutes of listening to the birds croaky song it suddenly climbed up a reed stem and showed itself for about 5 seconds. As we waited for another view, a Hobby flew over the lagoon and treated us to brilliant, close observation of this dragonfly catching bird of prey. A small Common Toad appeared near my legs and I had to pick it up to admire it, then replacing it. A short ride on to Chainbridge Lane in the Idle Valley area near Retford was next as we hoped to see some Red Crested Pochard that are normally found here. We had a good look for them without any joy but we stumbled upon the area that there is a release scheme for Beavers taking place, these animals are best seen at dawn and dusk though. As time was pressing on we called into RSPB St Aidans, Swillington, Yorkshire. We had found out that two Ruddy Shelduck had been seen on Caroline Bridge Spit this afternoon. We arrived and began the slog around to the other side of the reserve meeting a fellow birder who told us the birds are still present. They appeared back on the spit as we arrived but after 10 minutes had a fly and swim around, nice birds to end a very successful day`s birding. The weather had been quite Mediterranean too. Dave O.