And Yet Another Grand Day Out

Good Evening, been a lovely day here today not hot but very pleasant. We had another of days out this week as my long suffering readers will know we love a good days bird watching especially if the there is a rare bird about and on Tuesday that was the case. With all the easterly winds we have had lately a few rarities have been blown in. Up here in Scotland we were fortunate enough to have our share. The one nearest us was a Collared Flycatcher. So back to the start of the day we left home about 9-45 am to go to a place where the fields are kept flooded by a very kind farmer so all the migrant bird can stop and have a rest, food and water. There was not any rare birds but there was a few Sky Larks singing in the Spring sunshine high in the sky. After a few more stops on the way we arrived where we had heard the rarity was. It was in a wooded area with a stream running through it.

The trees are very old and very tall too so it is a day for neck strain. There were a few other bird watchers there but the bird was not showing at all. We stood looking up into the woodland canopy for about 30 minutes but no luck. The woodland was alive with birdsong and it was delightful standing listening. I said to Stuart that I was going to walk up the path a bit to get higher up. Shortly after I got there I spotted the illusive bird. It was a brief view but the bird is quite unmistakable.

Collared Flycatcher below.

(This is not not my picture as our bird was very shy and stayed up at the top of the Sycamore Trees so I had to get this image from the net)

I waved to the rest of the group and they all hurried up the path towards me but unfortunately the bird was not on view for them I had been so lucky. As we were standing waiting for him to put in another appearance I managed to slip and fall on my bottom in the mud and had to be helped up don't know why I keep doing this as this is the second time this year I have fallen but at least the mud was softer than the stairs were earlier in the year and I don't have a bruise this time. It did not spoil my joy though I was so pleased to have picked up the bird all by myself and not needed to have it pointed out to me. Later in the afternoon it was seen again and Stuart managed to see it then, a job too as there would have been no living with him if he had not seen it. To let you understand how rare this bird is he is the only one in Great Britain at the moment. Here are some more of the pictures I took on the day. Hope you enjoyed reading about our trip I don't usually write about our trips birding in this journal but it did give me a subject for an entry today,as you may know it can be hard to think up things to say when you are retired and there is not a lot going on. Till next time,

Love Joan.