Dipped a first for the patch !

This morning I was joined by John Coombes. He has the distinction of finding the best bird at Morton Bagot ever to be successfully twitched, namely the Great Grey Shrike in February 2010. It was, he told me, only his second ever visit. I was keen to meet him in order to put a face to the name.

We ambled from Netherstead Farm past about three singing Reed Warblers and maybe a couple of Sedge Warblers until I got a text from John Yardley to say that he had a Redshank on the back flash. This was a patch year tick, so our pace quickened a fraction.

Then it quickened a lot as John rang to say that a Tern had flown in from the north and was circling overhead. Alas, we were still too far away and by the time we rushed past a female Wheatear adjacent to the pool I knew I was going to dip. John was doing his best to relocate what he was sure had been a Common Tern, but the game was up. At least I can no longer go around saying the patch has never even had a Tern.

We saw the Redshank, and at least three broods of Lapwings although counting chicks accurately in the long grass of the flash field was nigh on impossible. We ended up back at the dragonfly pool where I finally saw my first odonata of the year in the form of an unidentified immature damselfly.

Just before we packed in, however, an adult Peregrine flew past and landed on a pylon. The first here for a couple of months.

I am using John Coombes' visit as an excuse to post an old photograph I took of the Shrike on the day it disappeared (coincidentally by the way).

A blast from the past

I departed earlier than normal to watch the cricket (good move), while John Yardley kindly took my scope and tripod away to see if he can drill out the base and put in a new thread.

A couple of noteworthy garden birds yesterday were a very late Siskin over, and a party of 33 Swifts.