BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JWN Andrewes" data-source="post: 3359347" data-attributes="member: 7131">21st FebruarySaturday was spent being social, doing the tourist thing, museums and the like, also saw the two mature Elms that still survive in the town. Also visited the allotment to pick some rocket for our starter that evening and saw a Brown Hare in a nearby field.Sunday was home time, and we had unfinished business in Milton Keynes. The Ferruginous Duck had been reported at Mount Farm in the morning so we made our first assault there, and things couldn't have gone more different from Thursday. Arrive, walk a bit, and get ticking. Honour thus restored we headed for home.As the journey home took us so close it seemed rude not to drop in on the wintering Hoopoe in Staffordshire. Last time we saw it it had been just over the brow of the hill, but after extensive scouring here we came up wanting, so we broadened our search area. Eventually we found what looked like a birder generated patch of trampled mud up against a fence, on the other side of which were some large tree guards identical to those I'd seen the bird pictured perching on online. Careful scanning soon revealed a bundle of black and white stripes, sitting quietly quite close in, quietly watching us. So the day ended with walk away views, and thus concluded an excellent few days away, with the first two target birds under the belt, and heaps more besides.</blockquote>