It's All Over Now

I thought about it. Quite a bit. My conclusion was that, while sitting at Hope's Nose from dawn 'til dusk might just provide the flypast Velvet Scoter I needed for the Patch Yearlist, there is going too far and that would be it.

I went to zumerzet instead.

Not been off on a jolly [as opposed to filthy tick-hungry twitching] for far too long, and the Levels in winter are one of my favourite birding places. Outside Devon. :)

I visited Shapwick / Ham Wall, Catcott, and Aller Moor and saw 59 species, which isn't too shabby. I also had quite a lot of fun, especially not long after arriving, when on Meare Heath in short order I met first Bearded Tits, then a ridiculously showy 2w male Marsh Harrier, then not one but 2 Great White Egrets. Egrets were the order of the morning, with all 5 flying about and sticking their snakey necks out of the reeds all over the shop. It were great!

I'm not going to go into great detail, so here's the cliff notes version; no Bitterns, but 8+ Cetti's and 2 Bewick's Swans, plus an adult female Marsh harrier. At Catcott there was no sign of the Whoopers which have been there recently, but there were 4 more Bewick's and a whole heap of Lapwing, plus what was probably the same adult female Marsh Harrier. Finally, my second Wild Crane Chase ended with a big win, as the whole flock were on show, if distant. The unringed bird flew off at one point, but later snuck back. Also, 2 SEOs put in appearances, as did [Famous Devon Birder] - though the owls rather rudely waited until he'd gone, the oiks.

Coming up; The Dreaded Top Ten of 2011...