May 082012
They say that lightening never strikes twice, well it did this morning.
Heavy overnight rain suggested that it might be worth checking out Staunton Harold Reservoir, my local patch, before work. Maybe a Little Gull or Black Tern could have dropped in, you never know. Anyway I decided to call in for 5-10 minutes before heading off to the office. I arrived in the car park around 8:30am. Parked up, wound down the car window, grabbed my “bins” and looked across the water. The first bird I looked at was a stunning adult Red-rumped Swallow. I could hardly contain myself, I then realised, No Phone, No Scope, No Camera! Sometimes it pays to leave all the gear at home!!
I checked the bird again to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating and joy, it was still feeding high over the water. So I ran up to the Severn Trent Offices, managed to find Chris, one of the local wardens and yelled out Red-rumped Swallow. Can you phone it out for me. In no time at all got Chris onto the bird.
Fairly quickly it was out to some of the local birders and was soon on the Pager. I managed to get two other local birders, Alan & Robin on it before the bird drifted off North, over fields and out of sight. It was lost too view around 8:55am. It was relocated at Swarkestone Gravel Pits around 11:30am but was only present for around 5 -10 minutes. So Garganey yesterday,
RRS today – what next !!
MY ROUGH NOTES ON THE BIRD – Year list now on
