Today a trip up north was a great success with the
ROLLER showing very well (although looking very wet) - nice views flying, feeding and resting so cheers all round. Also called in on was the
Marsh Warbler at Blacktoft Sands RSPB which gave itself up far more easily than the bird at Rainham that I tried to see yesterday - sadly this bird flew out of view just as I had my finger on the shutter! Two lifers in a day... cool!
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| Roller |
The patch has, as expected, been slow. Loads of ruddy
Red Kites, great birds but when's my Honey-buzzard coming? Got another view of the Legal & General
Tawny Owl juv on Thursday, a lot more mature and very adult-like now.
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| Tawny Owl |
Also last Saturday (26th), Ian and I popped down to Northward Hill RSPB for the Greenish Warbler, we heard it but didn't see it. This bumped my heard-but-not-seen British list to two, giving Bee-eater some company. We did, however, score with the two
White-winged Black Terns at Stodmarsh later in the day, where a
Bittern boomed, a
Cuckoo called and
Hobbies hawked around us while a
Little Stint and a couple of
Wood Sandpipers were nice in the wader department.
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| White-winged Black Tern(s) - can't remember whether these two pics are of the same or diff birds, doesn't matter... |
Also very very late but I never got round to mentioning a little trip to Oxfordshire involving my mate Liam back on April 28th, where the
Dotterel at Balscote and the flock of six
White Storks at Standridge were successfully twitched.
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| White Storks, Standbridge, April |
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| Dotterel, Balscote, April (little did I know...) |
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| This got the pulse racing momentarily at Staines Res back at the end of April - beware!!! |
