B3

Loads of stuff now either feeding young, or bursting out of nests. This hansom male Yellow Wag was feeding young near Broom today.

Check out the current distribution of Yellow Wagtail in Bedfordshire, by looking at the current Bird Club Atlas project website here.

Rare 'cat

A rare opportunity to see Polecat during the day was seized today. A family of four kits have been showing at College Lake, Bucks, recently and we got lucky with two animals visiting the hide this afternoon. Unfortuantely a crap shot, but a special one!

Tern muncher

Digiscoping flying birds is not easy. This Kestrel made it easier for me though, by hovering. It was flying over the Little Tern colony at Great Yarmouth (the UK's largest), but eyeing up the brood of Ringed Plovers scuttling around underneath. I suspect the Terns may get a hammering this year...

Relocation, relocation, relocation

What an excellent start to the weekend! Just as I was about to leave work I got a call asking if I knew anything about the Hoopoe reported on Birdguides? "No" came my reply. I checked the listings and sure enough, one had been reported as "briefly in the grounds of the hospital before flying south" that was at around 13:15 and the report didn't come on until 5pm. Should I waste an hour looking for it, I asked myself? After all, these things never materialise after a report like that, do they? Well, I did decide to look for it - at least it was on my way home.

Where would a Hoopoe head for? School playing fields. Especially if there's one just south of the hospital. I stopped the car at the end of the track and started slowly walking down to the playing field. Just as I reached a gap in the hedge I saw the head of a bird. I put my bins on it - Bingo! It was the long bill and shaggy crest of the Hoopoe. What a result. I was dead chuffed to re-find it. Within ten mins the first birders started to arrive, and after a bit of hide-and-seek, quite a few saw it.

Unfortunately after only about an hour on show, it flew off north, towards the hospital. But that was the last we saw of it.

My second Beds Hoopoe in as many years. They've been a very long time coming!

Swooping Swifts

About 300 of these fantastic birds over Broom this evening. Tricky to photograph well. Out of over 100 images the two above were probably about the best.