Apologies for being a bit quiet on here recently but pretty much all of my spare time has been spent building up the year list. Just about every evening over the last few weeks has seen me shooting off somewhere straight from work to see a new bird that has been found. The last update I posted regarding the yearlist was on the 20th February and I am pleased to say I am starting to get up some good numbers. Most of the time has been spent catching up with birds that I have missed due to working full time and with the exception of Brent Goose, Crossbill and Curlew I am pretty much on target. Since my last update good county birds have been Slavonian Grebe, Avocet, Little Gull, Garganey, Bittern, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Pink Footed Goose, Great White Egret, Common Redstart, Ring Ouzel, Arctic Tern, Black Redstart and the latest Pied Flycatcher which brings the current list up to 127 species so far seen this year. The Slavonian Grebe took some work as it was very mobile as did the Great White Egret which has been present for a while but keeps flying up and down the Nene Valley making catching up with it a nightmare. I got very lucky with Bittern as I only had to wait half an hour before it crept out onto my side of the reeds at Summer Leys giving great views of it fishing, and the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which flew right in front of me and landed on a branch just 20 feet from where I was standing. The Ring Ouzel was a sigh of relief too and they had turned up while I was in Norfolk chasing a Hoopoe (see previous posting), and although I did bird the area the following morning my cold had started to get quite bad so I had to give in and head home. Luckily a very helpful young lady (Kirsty) tweeted me in the afternoon to say her and her partner had found one so I shot straight over and connected. Here's a pic taken by her partner Jon Philpot.
Jon Philpot
The Black Redstart proved to be quite easy too as it flew up on top of a post as I walked away from the car after getting the tip off of it's location from local county birder Eleanor Mcmahon and then the Pied Flycatcher was showing very well too at nearby Daventry Country Park. Unfortunately I'll have to leave this post there as the suns shining and I've got some birding to do, sorry it's a bit rushed but duty calls! I'll be updating again as quick as possible!! Good birding all.
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