Or in this case - you wait all year.
So on Sunday morning I had to make a visit to the tip. Whoops, sorry.... Recyling Centre. I really must learn to stop calling it that. Anyway, on the way back I thought, "Well me binoculars are in the car, it would be rude not to pop into the Orchard Centre for 5 minutes and see if there's anything about".
So I swung by, parked up and scuttled down to the hide as fast as my little legs would carry me. No sooner had I sat down when a flash of blue shot by. Would you Adam and Eve it! (I'm not a cockney but I'm given to regionally accented outbursts from time to time, A Kingfisher! A bloody Kingfisher! Two years I've waited to see one here. And what does the little blighter do? He alights on a bulrush in good view of the hide and I swear to god I could hear him laughing. Okay, it was the voices in my head again..... "Shame you forgot your camera Steve. Ha ha ha.". Go on, rub it in.
Nevertheless, number 69 is in the bag!
I figured all was not lost and decided to head off home to collect the camera. Surely the little fella would make another appearance. I coaxed my curious, though somewhat unenthusiastic, teenage daughter to accompany me. In truth, she's a much better photographer than me so I put her in charge of "the kit" to leave me free to find the bird.
Alas, 'twas not to be. An hour of fruitless searching and lolling around in a draughty hide produced nothing. It looked as though our little blue chum had moved along. Drat.
Once again there was a large flock of Goldfinches feeding on the thistles around the hide. My daughter snapped off a few shots and then pointed out an LBJ ("Little Brown Job" to the uninitiated) perched on the top of a hedge, partially obscured by the swirling cloud of finches.
With binoculars sharply focused, I was able to excitedly announce that it was a Whinchat. I think I must have repeated that about 10 times to my (still) somewhat unenthusiastic daughter. " I'll take some photos shall I dad?" Oh yeah, right. I knew you were here for a good reason. Left to me I would have missed the moment.
A Whinchat. That's quite a big deal for my little patch. Oh, and let's not forget, it's also number 70.
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| Whinchat |
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| Whinchat and Goldfinch |
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| Goldfinches in flight |
