Thursday 4 September 2014

LITTLE CRAKE at Black Hole Marsh

When I saw Steve's tweet this morning informing of a Spotted Crake on BHM, I wished I'd popped down for one of my usual early morning visits. But then the pic from Sue made it clear that it was in fact, not a Spotted Crake. So... whack out a holiday form, leave work, grab camera gear and head straight to the marsh. Okay so I did look a bit silly being hideously overdressed in my work clothes, but nevermind! The views were VERY distant but for a Crake the bird was pleasantly showy. Here's one of the pics:

First in Britain since 2011? And more or less on my doorstep? Oh this is a good day...


4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on connecting! The panicked charge out of work is one of my favourite kinds of twitches - I did it a few years ago for Hong Kong's first Philippine Duck in full formal rig (suit, tie, shiny leather shoes, briefcase) I got a taxi to drive me through a bunch of abandoned fishponds where the road ended at a derelict shed. The taxi driver was clearly confused and stressed at teh difference between my dress and the destination - as we got further and further off the beaten track he kept looking at me over his shoulder as if he expected me to pull a silenced pistol out of my briefcase and off him at any moment. Leaving him to calm down I scrambled across the newly turned mud bunds between a couple of ponds to get to the edge of Mai Po where, thankfully, lots of other birders were on hand to give me a gander through a scope and nail the bird!

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    1. Haha that's just brilliant Mike! Has to be done sometimes.

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