A Beds first!

You don't get many of these to the pound - a Bedfordshire first!

I got a call just after 8pm from Martin saying he'd got a 'funny tern' at Broom. I arrived a few mins later and got on to the bird. I don't think I'd said a word to Martin before I started to make a phone call to spread the word - we were watching a spanking adult Roseate Tern!

It transpiried that Martin first thought it was the lingering Sandwich Tern that had been knocking around for a while, however then he noticed it had TWO rings on its legs, instead of one! That got alarm bells ringing, and I'm just lucky I received a phone call otherwise it could have easily got away unidentified.

Within a few minutes people were arriving and I think about thirty people caught up with it by dusk. Of course there were a few who missed it because of one reason or another, but your heart must go out to Mark T and Matt B, both Broom stalwarts, who had both left their mobiles in their cars that evening!

What's even worse is that two visiting birders early the next morning found a feeding Spoonbill at Broom! I'm gutted about this especially because a) I had the alarm set for 5am and rolled over and went back to sleep and b)the time it took me to get out the house and round to where they were watching the bird (less than five mins) it had flown past my car and over my house without me seeing it!

At least there'll be another Spoonbill in the county. The same might not be said for that glorious 'Daz white' tern...