Twitching
Frensham, Surrey
A good chance to go birding today so off I went to Frensham in Surrey in pursuit of a Red-footed Falcon. I made my way up to Kings Ridge to join 4 other birders, only to find that none of them had seen the bird yet, despite regular reports of its presence.- We decided to split up and search for the elusive creature. Soon I was beckoned to the bottom of the ridge where the bird was showing well. We enjoyed excellent views of the falcon as it moved around the many dead trees in front of us.
Church Norton, West Sussex
With time to spare, I decided to go home via Pagham Harbour and seek out the Elegant Tern that had been seen on-and-off all day. - When I arrived at around 4 p.m,.the bird was on the Tern Island but only really gave good views when it took to the air. After waiting for a short period, this duly happened - much to my delight. Then it went to ground again before flying around once more. This cycle of events went on until I left.
 |
| Elegant Tern courtesy of Brian Thompson |
My first "lifer" for ages!
- The mind boggles to think what set of circumstances has brought this bird to the UK. Its usual grounds are the Pacific coast of America!
A further update on how it came to be at Church Norton.
- Orange billed terns such as this can be difficult to identify, and just to confuse matters further, they do have an unfortunate habit of hybridising. However this particular individual has previously been in France where it was ringed, and DNA samples taken at the time have proved that this bird is a pure elegant tern.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.