Keep watching, it flutters around after a little while!
I was reminded of my gullibility several times today. Someone texted me to say they had found something somewhere (I won't say who, what or where) and nearly got me heading for the train, my mum convinced me that two thousand people dressed as smurfs were going to be doing a charity walk through Burgh Heath and an article on the Birdwatch website had me believing the Druridge Bay Curlew was an Eskimo. It was at this point that I slapped myself round the face and became sceptical of everything from then on. While at Canons, a message came through on the pager of a Leach's Petrel at Theale GPs. Again, I fell for it and believed it. It was not until I got in the car with Phil that I realised I must have been done over again. Far too early for a Leach's, they haven't even been seen on the coast and even then they're usually only driven inland by autumn storms. We were almost going to turn around but thought we may as well continue.
On arrival we were greeted by a birder who told us it wasn't a prank and the bird was still there, I remained incredulous - that was until we got onto a little black dot on the other side of the pit, it was indeed a Leach's Petrel! We drove round to the other side where brilliant settled and flight views were obtained, it was a great bird! I will never know what to believe on April Fools days in the future, it would be better if the tradition didn't exist.
Britain Life List 301
