My year list total has been stuck around 186 for ages, and I did not think that I would be adding to it before the year end. However things have changed recently and when I discoverd that my total was now 195, I decided to try to get to 200. My recent trip to Teesside increased my total to 197, so where to get 3 more birds from.
Glossy ibis have been reported at St.Aidans for a while, so I decided to go there today. Not the best of weather and lots of visitors, including wild swimmers.
I met Neil while looking for the little owl in the compound, the last time I saw him was at Blacktoft.
I had a chat with Jo in the welcome hut and she told me where the Glossy Ibis had been seen. I popped into the Little owl cafe to see Romona and then headed for Bowers lake.
No sign of the ibis, but a smart looking male red-crested pochard was nearby.
I slowly walked around the whole site and had 33 birds on my day list, by the time i returned to see Jo. She told me that visitors had reported seeing 3 glossy ibis, so I returned to Bowers lake. Lots of coots, black-headed gulls, shovelers and tufted ducks, but no Ibis. I helped a couple of birders locate the red-crested pochard, but still no ibis.
Then I was watching a male marsh harrier hunt over some reed beds, when a female flew over and they had a bit of a display. This caused loads of lapwings to take to air and in with them were 3 glossy ibis. 3 other birders joined us, and we had more views as the harriers kept disturbing the birds.
I returned to Jo to report my success.
Can I find 2 new birds tomorrow?
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