Lunchtime twitching success

Probably the best day of the year for birding so far, but unfortunately it fell on a weekday, not a weekend or bank holiday. But Darren, Mark and I got out at lunchtime to Broom gravel pits, where we twitched three Black Terns and a Little Gull. It would have been nice to have stayed out all afternoon, though...

digiscoped photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Black Tern duck broken

Word broke this morning that a Black Tern was at Welland Bank Pits! Couldn't resist the lure of another PBC tick, so I headed up there and there it was, number 191 on my list. After last weekend's disaster, it was a relief!

I enjoyed watching it hawk for insects for about an hour... it spent quite a lot of time flying high over the water, presumably where its prey was. The size and flight differences with Common Tern were interesting. I've seen a few Black Terns in Northants before but these were my best, most prolonged views.

A Hobby dashed around, grabbing insects and having a pop at young Starlings.

What's in my CD player: Mighty Joe Moon - Grant Lee Buffalo

Bogbumper And The Curse Of The Black Tern

This morning I was woken at 05:45 by a text from Mike 'Early Birder' Weedon which said:

"Blak [sic] tern @ maxey now 5.45am. M"

I neeeeeeeeeed Black Tern for my PBC area list. That was enough of a stimulus to get even me out of bed. I grabbed my scope, bins, camera etc. and set off.

I arrived at Maxey at 06:15 (it would have been sooner if I hadn't gone the wrong way - twice). There was no sign of Weed, and worse still, no bloody terns! I waited around for more than a hour, in the vain hope that they might come back, but there was no sign.

After that bitter disappointment, I went to Castor Hanglands (I'm a sucker for punishment), and had my best-ever views of Grasshopper Warbler. I heard one reeling as I got out of the car, and decided to have a wander up the track to look for it (it sounded close, but they can be quite misleading). Scanning around, I soon saw it sitting low in a tree. After watching for a while, I decided it was worth a digiscoping attempt.



Hardly worth it, but it's fun trying. It's not easy to understand how Groppers sing. They just seem to sit there, open their bills and somehow the mechanical sound spills out. The only sign of any effort is the vibrating tail.

Also at CH were a few Turtle Doves, a couple of Cuckoos, and a lot of young birds.

These Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) made a nice display.



This flower is pretty, but I don't know what it is...




Update: Mum says it's Goatsbeard, Tragopogon orientalis, otherwise known as Jack-Go-To-Bed-At-Noon.

What's in my CD player: Thriller - Lambchop