On Wednesday, I was lured to Slimbridge by reports of an American Golden Plover amongst the 2000+ Golden Plover flock. On arrival in the Holden Tower, I was dismayed to find the plovers at least 300 yards away, and mostly facing away from the hide. Lapwings were also numerous. Whitefronts were amongst the distant feral Barnacle flock.
I decided to wander off and return later. There were plenty of other birds to watch, and in between torrential showers I got excellent views from the Zeiss Hide of a lot of Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Bewicks.
A Spotted Redshank showed well, bizarrely my first for the year.
A pair of Peregrines sat on the sea wall.
The plover flock flew restlessly around in the distance (a Merlin was amongst them at times).
Eventually I returned to the Holden Tower, where birders were claiming not one, but possibly two Yanks in the GP flock. As soon as I started scanning the flock, now much closer, they were up again, this time flushed by horseriders with hounds, and a Fox was seen running in the distance. I thought that was illegal.
When the flock eventually landed, the female Peregrine buzzed it, and up they went again, and showed no sign of landing. The light was fading, so I left, and decided that a lot of luck or patience would be needed to see the Transatlantic tinker!
1 comment:
Hope AGP stays over the vacation. Never seen one, and I need to get a good look as its my guess for the next Glamorgan first, which naturally I intend to find myself.
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