Great British Bird Hunt - A New Bird Is Spotted

Wow, it's been an absolute age since I saw a brand new bird, partly because I'm mainly confined to my patch, but largely because I'm bloody lazy.

Anyhoo, I decided to head off to Lodmoor on Sunday as a Cattle Egret had been spotted in the area. Sadly, I didn't see it as it had disappeared before I arrived. I did however get to spot several Grey Plovers, a lifer for me.

Here's a shot showing all five birds together.

The great news was that they were showing quite well and came within 60 feet of where I was standing. The bad news was that I had all sorts of problems with my camera and simply couldn't get any sharp shots. Fellow blogger Tim White reckons it was because I was shooting just after midday on a blazing bright day, meaning heat haze softened my images and made it hard for my lens to properly focus. I'm inclined to agree with him.

I'm always fascinated by the size of different birds. Here are some Dunlin and

Ringed Plovers for reference.


The actual birds consisted of three males in stunning summer plumage. They're truly majestic looking birds with lovely feather patterning and a lightning fast gait. They were quite happy speeding back and fourth along the mud flats eating worms and other goodies and were occasionally joined by several Dunlin and a small group of Ringed Plovers.

An original uncropped shot. Yet another reason why cropping wasn't great.

The rest of the trip was largely uneventful. I saw no Marsh Harrier, only one Little Egret and a brace of Sandwich Terns with the odd Common Tern thrown in for good measure.

If my calculations are correct I'm currently on 146 birds. A decent figure until you realise that I've been running the blog for just over two years now!