Sunday, 26 August 2012

Finally! River Coly's Dipper- ring deciphered!!

Five hours after going to bed last night, I got up and headed to Black Hole Marsh arriving at 6:45, to see if the Turnstone was still there. It wasn't. There were plenty of Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpipers and Green Sandpipers as per the usual of late. The only slightly unusual sighting was a Jay which flew over BHM and headed out over the estuary.
Later on in the morning, I headed down to the River Coly to have a much needed look around. About 4 mins into the walk I had some brilliant views of a Dipper. The light was appalling as the bird was in shadows under a bridge and it was too close to get a photo with my DSLR arrangement. It is VERY rare for a subject to be too close to me to photograph! I took the opportunity to concentrate on getting some shots of the ring on the birds right leg. Finally I've got all the info! I've passed it on so hopefully we'll find out where the Dipper came from fairly soon! I couldn't go as far upstream as I'd planned because I kept getting held up by people who were determined to ask various questions/have a catch up. So, instead I went home, had lunch, then went straight back down the Coly again. It didn't take long to locate the Dipper again. Unfortunately an elderly woman, in all her wisdom, saw that I was (very slowly, quietly and carefully) sneaking up on something; so she boldly strolls up beside me and proclaims unnecessarily loudly "Ooo it's a Dipper." Bloomin moron. Needless to say, the bird was frightened off. I did find it again, from a fair distance and again in shadows (they're good at that). Here's some of the pics:




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