Sunday 21 April 2013

Gripped....Twice

I've been thoroughly gripped-off  today, not just once, but twice. Talk about salt in the wounds.

This morning I had to go car shopping, which I hate, but needs must. I got a call from Dave Elliott to say he'd been watching a kingfisher on the Budge fields - but, and here's the crippler, he watched it fly off over the dunes. It's probably six or seven years since my last patch kingfisher.

This evening I had wander around the patch, making the most of the best of the day. I was investigating a strange call I couldn't identify near the reedbed end of the big pool when I got a cryptic tweet from Alan Tilmouth:

grip mate, take it well, no dummies ;)

Was he referring to the kingfisher? Bit late in the day for that so I phoned him. NO, not the kingfisher, even worse.

Seemingly, a 'photographer from Morpeth' had photographed a crake on Friday at Druridge, hadn't identified so sent it to the County recorder, who did...SPOTTED CRAKE!

Bugger it!

Spotted crake isn't a new bird for the patch, but I've only ever seen two and they were eons ago.

To be honest, I'm getting a bit fed-up with photographers who can't identify birds in the field, so rely on their photos to identify the species later at home.

My ruined night was made a little better as I watched a short-eared owl hunting through the dunes and saw common tern and fulmar offshore as well as a harbour porpoise.

I still have no idea what was calling near the path. It wasn't a spotted crake.

101 lesser black-bagged gull
102 common tern
103 fulmar

2 comments:

DavidE said...

7 blackwit 2 nite budge

DavidE said...

7 blackwit 2 nite budge