After almost an entire night's sleep, I had Stuff To Do in Exeter today, and as I was feeling better, I decided to make a small detour on the way and see if the tarty Bittern at Riverside Valley Park would show itself. I got there to find [Famous Devon Birders], who cheerfully told me it had been standing around in the open for 2 hours but had just moved into the reeds.
Bastard.
On the positive side, a Chiffchaff singing away [and showing properly] was my first of the year [[Yes, really. I still haven't caught up with the one that overwintered on the Patch...]] and better still a Sand Martin flew about a bit. A February Sandie is almost as good as a tarty Bittern.
After my Stuff was Done, I went back and had another go. Only one Birder present this time, but he told me I'd just missed not only the Bittern on the morning pool, but also what was almost certainly a different bird on the other pool.
Double bastard.
A nice Reed Bunting wasn't much of a consolation, and after a lot of staring at the corner the Bittern had stalked into I eventually had to call it a day. Oh well, he says, trying to be philosophical about it all, I'm not chasing a Devon Yearlist [[yeah yeah..]] so it's only the chance to see a nice close Bittern in the sunshine... And there are worse birds to dip. Three times in a day.
Wheatears soon!
:)
No comments:
Post a Comment