Saturday, December 02, 2006

Priory Diver




Another addition to my Beds list, bringing it to a still not very impressive 150... Convieniently at my Monday work experiance site only 5 minutes from home. This was the best I could do in rubbish light. To give you an idea of just how rubbish my Bedfordshire list is here are some of the species I still need in the county....

Bittern
Little Egret
Egyptian and Pink footed Geese
Curlew
Black tailed Godwit
Ruff
Jack Snipe
Med Gull
Arctic Tern
Merlin
Marsh Harrier
Tree Sparrow
Rock and Tree Pipits
Grasshopper Warbler
Firecrest
Redstart
Ring Ouzel

And so on....

Devon Murellet






Part of the crows that assembled at Dawlish to pay their respects to the once in a lifetime Long-billed Murellet. The sheer rarity value of the bird made up for the fact that it was actually quite ugly. An anxious wait followed before it decided to come back inshore, after arriving to find it swimming out to sea, and proceeded to give great views for the next hour or so. Another life tick was provided by some nearby Cirl Buntings with the Otter eastuary Cattle Egret (top bird) becoming my 2nd in the UK.