Headed south through sleet, snow and rain with Ralph and Eugene at 2am today.
Got down to Westleton Heath, next door to Minsmere in Suffolk at 7.30am, and the place was colder than the bloody Baltic in January!
Blue skies, but a bitter, strong, bitter south westerly made birding difficult all day - not that the local Barn Owl and perchy perchy Great Grey Shrike seemed to mind.
Woodlark, Dartford Warbler, Chiffchaff, Swallow, Green Woodpecker, gazillions of Rabbits and a fair few Red deer were mere distractions as we searched for the Lesser Kestrel, that has been around since Sunday.
The area the bird is usually seen in is about a million miles away from the nearest observation point - you need the Hubble Telescope combined with the Large Hadron Particle Collider thingy and a ten times converter to get a reasonable view.
Strange then, that after hours of freezing and searching to no avail, a small male kestrel flew past me at 150 metres - bright blue head, deep chestnut back and coverts (unmarked), and shocking white underwing, with very little spotting, at 11.15am.
Although Eugene only got on the bird in silhouette as it headed into the sun, he noticed longer central tail feathers.
It was gone behind a clump of birches in seconds and most of the other birders there didn't seem that interested as I called the bird (but as one had claimed Chaffinch as Lesser Kestrel earlier, this was hardly surprising).
Never to be seen again.
Looked like a male Lesser Kestrel to me though!
No one else got on it, and mysteriously, the sighting never made it onto any of the rare bird alert services.
A fine Red Kite came through a short while later, but despite much searching through the Common Kestrels and Sprawks onsite, we never saw the sought after Lesser again.
Some days are like that.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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"looked like one"
I guess that's good enough these days
hi john, marshside today 55 avocet, 1 swallow, 3 ruff and 1 red legged partridge all from nels, rl partridge was seen through the side window closest to sg hide (north i think ?) tucked on the bank 5m away, don't know how many records annually but thought it a little strange, could not record sightings in log as sandgrounders was shut. also boxing hares at plex moss.
denn
Thanks for that "Proregulus", I love you too.
Beautifully put John - glad you saw something tangible. Wednesday afternoon: Westleton Heath: Freezing cold, distance from 'usual location' bordering on delusional i.d. range, no sign of anything despite a mysterious pager message relating to 1555hrs, gave up after 2.5 hours after supposedly missing it by 10 minutes, went to see the Pallid Swift, missed it by 10 minutes (off to roost), went to look for Alpine Swift at roost - did not appear. Fortunately on the way to work in Kent so didnt waste much fuel.
Staying local for the rest of the spring, unless ""on the way"" to work, like the Eastern Crowned Warbler was just about en route to a proposed windfarm along the A66!
i had a hirundine sp heading north over the hesketh rd platform at 7 o'clock tonight ten minutes later another 5 then 10 minutes later still 7 passed over each time i didnt get on to them quick enough thought they were swallows but could of been sand martins
Singing Blackcap in the Selworthy Road cutting this morning, I reckon that's my first migrant Blackcap of the year, the over wintering bird(s) where at the far end (one still around yesterday tea time) and never leave the Buckthorn area.
Traces of spring migration this morning from 0830 (Easter Saturday) at Marshside with Young Pete Allen.. 4 resplendent White Wags, 5 Swallows, 1 Sand Martin, 2 Chiffies, small numbers of Mipits, Redpoll, plus two Merlins, one the size of Doncaster (probable Icelandic/Greenland race). Also 82 Avocets, c 20 Ruff, 550 Golden Plover (also probably Northern birds).
5 Swallows north between Ainsdale and Southport after 4pm, nine White Wags with Mipits and Pied Wags on the muddy area at Weld Road.
50 Ringed Plover on beach earlier in the day.
2 stonking Med Gulls on Polly's today!
Fifteen White Wagtails on the Weld Road beach carpark area this afternoon with a few Pied Wags and Meadow Pipits. A careful count of Avocets at Marshside produced a total of 87.