The 28th of February was an odd day. it was miserably overcast but unusually warm for the time of year. I toyed with the idea off giving it a miss today but I was anxious to try and work out what's going on at the nest. It was another earlier start for me and I was at the site by 8.30. A Dipper flew upstream at 8.38 calling loudly and at 8.57 it flew down again quickly, again calling loudly. I have seen this behaviour before when the male seems to patrol his territory, always calling as he flies by. I can't explain why, but I had a pessimistic vibe about today, I feared that they are nesting elsewhere after seeing the female collecting moss from just in front of me yesterday and then flying away down stream with it and then later seeing her with an empty beak? Lots of questions still to be answered. The usual format is silence and no activity followed by the sudden arrival of the birds so there is always hope. I did have a close encounter with the male Dipper in the afternoon, but neither the male or female came to the nest today. The Grey Wagtails both turned up at the nest though, and the male proceeded to carry nesting material in to the area of the Dipper nest, building has begun. I am not sure whether the Wagtails have put the Dippers off using last years nest. I am yet to discover if that proves to be the case, if it does I will have some interest in the form of breeding Wagtails at least. They are a nice species and I will make the most of this opportunity to get to know them better.