Another fantastic days birding in a long line of other fantastic days birding started off at Willow Tree Fen in Lincolnshire. This place looks quite a good reserve but for some reason, it hasn't turned up anything really top draw yet. It does look an ideal place for a late summer RED-FOOTED FALCON maybe for instance.
Anyway, CJW, I and the Stalker walked down the little path and joined the crowd. We'd already passed quite a few birder/birdwatchers walking back, several of whom were back slapping and punching the air with glee. One tramp, sorry, local birdwatcher-type even told us that we should get ourselves down there as there was a BLUETHROAT showing really well. We replied is there really, and we said we might well go down and have a look.
So we stood in the crowd. And waited. And waited. And actually we started to get really cold as sub-Saharan tropical heat had been forecast for today and we had dressed accordingly. CJW was actually wearing shorts and his Right Said Fred string vest as he thought it was going to be that warm.
Eventually, just before hypothermia set in, the Bluethroat popped out and did its performance. The sound was deafening. Some even dived for cover in the reed bed as they though they were under attack from a Japanese sniper. In fact, it was the sound of 120 camo-clad long lens toting muppets with their cameras making all those wonderful sounds. They can obviously silence them, but we are dealing with idiots here who think for instance they can take photos of a duck caught by fishing line and pass them off as a duck showing well.
I digress (yes muppet I'm still on about you Mr @duckonarope). We watched the Bluethroat wander up and down a few feet away from us. Unfortunately, due to the freezing temperatures, my fingers began to go numb as I shot some video. Anyway, Lord Lichfield has finally started to get to grips with his camera, and his latest offering, if watched on high definition on your mobile, isn't too shabby at all. In fact, its amongst the top two videos you'll see on this page.
We made the relatively short journey up to Rutland Water, where we only managed to add two Black-necked Grebes to our day list, and we couldn't find the much hoped for RED-NECKED GREBE.
Next stop was back to Drayton Bassett Pits where we finally connected with the Greenland White-fronted Goose, showing well in the field with the Canada Geese. I wanted to see this goose, as its still quite a rarity in the county. This is only my 3rd sighting, with the previous two sightings being my first and second sightings. I also have seen quite a few flavours of geese so far this year. I wonder if I can do the clean "geese" sweep this year or not?
We then decided to head off to Chasewater, where we hoped to see GLAUCOUS GULL or maybe a CASPIAN GULL. CJW was especially excited about this, as he's such a fan of gull roosts. But, there was the chance of one or two year ticks, so the visit had to be done.
As we were walking back to the car, I received a phone call from a contact at Branston. He'd found something, and it was a Branston tick for me. I told CJW and The Stalker, but they decided to leave it to me to decide where to go next. They were both looking forward immensely to the gull roost, and neither of them had a Branston list. We'd all seen the mystery bird in question twice this year as well. It was a no brainer. Surely it was obvious I had to go with the majority decision in the car.
We were soon parking up at Branston.We only had to sprint to the southern pit. We were soon out of breath, gasping for air, our lungs seemed so tight. Sweat was pouring off us. Then we got out of the car and put our coats on; we walked across the fields.
It took us quite some time to find the female Long-tailed Duck, but The Stalker eventually located it. And true to form, it was diving constantly. But it was another addition to my Branston list. What a fantastic day it had been.
