Tuesday 17 October 2017

14th October 2017 (Gwent)

I headed up to Blorenge this morning to try and grip back rock thrush after not going for the Scilly bird last year. The sat nav took me up a '1st gear slalom' followed by a typical mid-wales track with dizzying drops and nothing in the way of barriers!

After parking the car, I walked up the track. On arrival, I heard there was no sign of the bird yet, but shortly after a birder got a phone call to say he had the bird between the first and second quarry, but once we reached him, he informed us that the bird had flown back towards the first quarry where we had just been standing! We started scanning from the top of the quarry, which produced nothing other than meadow pipits.

Two hours passed before there was another phone call. The bird had shown beyond the second quarry. After a short run, we were told that the bird had again flown! Pretty soon, some birders who had walked up the track waved us other. Another short run and I had close views of the 1st year male ROCK THRUSH! What a fantastic bird!

 
 
 
 
ROCK THRUSH - Blorenge

Very happy with my views of this bird, and glad I didn't risk a trip after work yesterday.

I was originally planning to head to kent for the wilson's phalarope next, but a rustic bunting at Portland Bill changed those plans! After lunch in Weymouth, I arrived at the bill late afternoon where the bird had not been since about 1pm. A search of Crown Estate Fields produced a year tick in the form of 3 Whinchats which provided me with some compensation for the dip.

Whinchat - Portland

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