Pie Face
Well-known member
it was down to the Rother Valley for the swallow... we got loads of 'em but not one with a red ass! Should have been warned by it's absence on Birdguides this morning, the only entry was last night's sighting not uploaded till this morning.
At one point Ken and I were watching a flock of about 30 or more swifts circling upwards at a ridiculous height above the nature reserve lake. Couldn't make them out with the naked eye and they were just specs in the 10x bins, but they were still ascending. Must say that the great crested grebe at the country park are very quick to fly, saw total of 4 birds in flight today, more than I've seen in all my previous years of birding.
This bird was claimed mid-afternoon also a Black Kite reported over there. Now I'm not one for rubbishing anyone else's records. But given that the latter wasn't seen by the regulars (who I trust implicitly) and that a Marsh Harrier had been present at Carr Vale earlier (an awful lot of Carr Vale birds pass through the valley) I am on this occasion somewhat cynical.