Paul Rule
Well-known member
Spent 2 hours walking a short section of the Devil's Dyke near Cambridge this morning in search of 2 Male Ring Ouzels that had been reported on Friday. I did not have this bird on my UK list so I got up early, to check them out before the dog walkers got going.
I had a mile to walk to get to the spot they had been seen on Friday, however I had only done a quarter of that distance when one flew past me and came to rest 50 yards away. After watching it for about 20 minutes, it was not joined by a second bird, so either they had split up or I had found a different bird, so I carried on in search of the missing bird(s). After completing the mile walk it took all of 20 seconds to track down 2 male Ouzels showing really well on a fence. On the way back the 1st Ouzel was still around which confirmed that I had indeed found a previously unreported bird. All in all a great 2 hours, not only did I get a new UK tick but the bird that gave me that tick I had found myself (although of cause I would not have be there to find it if I wasn’t looking for the others)
I must come back to this site when I finally get my digiscoping kit together. Because the path is on a high bank you can get great eye level views of birds perching on tree tops, could have got a really good shots of Yellow Hammer and Green Woodpecker this morning
I had a mile to walk to get to the spot they had been seen on Friday, however I had only done a quarter of that distance when one flew past me and came to rest 50 yards away. After watching it for about 20 minutes, it was not joined by a second bird, so either they had split up or I had found a different bird, so I carried on in search of the missing bird(s). After completing the mile walk it took all of 20 seconds to track down 2 male Ouzels showing really well on a fence. On the way back the 1st Ouzel was still around which confirmed that I had indeed found a previously unreported bird. All in all a great 2 hours, not only did I get a new UK tick but the bird that gave me that tick I had found myself (although of cause I would not have be there to find it if I wasn’t looking for the others)
I must come back to this site when I finally get my digiscoping kit together. Because the path is on a high bank you can get great eye level views of birds perching on tree tops, could have got a really good shots of Yellow Hammer and Green Woodpecker this morning