03/01/17 Twitching: Blue Rock Thrush, Dusky Thrush and Waxwings

Tuesday 3 January 2017

I just couldn't resist the chance to twitch the Blue Rock Thrush at Stow-on-the-Wold and the Dusky Thrush at Beeley in Derbyshire.  With fine weather, it was a no brainer.

Stow-on-the-Wold

• The Blue Rock Thrush was sitting nicely on top of a chimney near Fisher Close as I arrived, in complete contrast to last time when we had to wait a long time to get a sighting.  The number of birders present was only about 25%  of the previous visit so the whole experience was much more comfortable.

• On the way I managed to see at least 3 Red Kites on the M40 - my first sighting of this species in 2017.

Beeley in Derbyshire

• I was in Beeley just after 1 p.m. but the village centre was deserted.  I finally got into the action when I found the Dusky Thrush and the birders at Pig Lane, a couple of hundred metres north of the centre.  It was on the ground in a field and perched on a fallen branch from a nearby tree.  It was further away than I would have liked, nevertheless the views were excellent.

Because this bird showed immediately I still had time to do a third twitch.

Chesterfield in Derbyshire

• As luck would have it, I picked up news on RBA of Waxwings in Chesterfield so I thought I would try for them after I had seen the Dusky Thrush.  I arrived about 2 p.m. at the Victoria Working Men's Club, as advised by the alert, and there in a tree in the gardens adjacent to the club car park were at least 8 of the 18 Waxwings reported earlier.  Not a bad way to bring up 50 species for the year. Incredibly there was no-one there to share my excitement with! 

Another 9 species added to my year list, with 4 really special ones, to make this a truly wonderful day, fully justifying the 400+ mile round trip.