Lewis and I left Yeovil at 3am to try for a couple of lifers in two counties I've never visited before. First stop was for the bee-eater flock at East Leake in Nottinghamshire that is showing signs of breeding. We arrived at around 6:45am. The weather wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty cold, dark and wet. We were the first to arrive on site, shortly followed by two other birders. After some confusion on where the watchpoint was, we set up and waited. An hour went by with no sign, and it was looking like eiher the poor weather had driven the birds off, or they simply wouldn't be active in it. At around 8:30, we heard the calls, and a drenched
Bee-Eater flew up into the tree in front of us. Success! We also had at least 2 more
Bee-Eaters in flight and a Green Sandpiper.
Bee-Eater - East Leake
Next stop was Aberaeron, Ceredigion. On the drive through mid-Wales, we saw a minimum of 5
Red Kites from the car window. Shortly after arriving, Lewis picked up the 1cy female
KING EIDER not far off shore. A great bird to see as they're quite a bit rarer in the south of the country, a nice car window tick as well as another lifer! Also of note was a
Red Kite over the car park and another 2
Red Kites on the drive home.
KING EIDER - Aberaeron
Seemed to be feeding well on crabs around the river mouth.
A successful trip and brings me to a total of 5 lifers over the last 4 weeks! Almost 11 hours driving but well worth every minute!
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