County First

 Storm Amy has been venting her fury on the country over the past twenty four hours or so though I think we have probably suffered less than those counties to the west and north of us. Despite the blowy conditions Alan Shorrock and I ventured out this morning in search of an American visitor which has been gracing the nature reserve at Pitsford Reservoir for the past couple of days.

American Golden Plover

A juvenile American Golden Plover first appeared at Clifford Hill on Tuesday but was seen to fly off  during the following morning, initially I thought I'd lost my chance to catch up with this rare visitor but it or another was then picked up at Pitsford Res on Thursday morning. Cue an anxious wait until this morning when I was finally able to get over there and give it a go. In bright though blowy conditions we were able to get decent scope views of my first county and fourth ever AGP from Bird Club Hide as it fed out on the mud in Scaldwell Bay. Several record shots were taken before we moved on to the James Fisher Hide from where the bird showed more closely but the light was awful. On our way to the hide Red Admirals, Speckled Woods and Common Darters were noted, Al saw a Migrant Hawker too but I didn't manage to see it. Other birds observed before we left included several Great White Egrets, three Ruff and half a dozen Pintails.

Red Admiral and Common Darter

A brief stop at a lay-by on the A5199 allowed us to get distant views of a Pectoral Sandpiper at Hollowell Res which was my third of the autumn but first in the county this year, we probably could have tried for closer views but didn't make the effort. Shozzer wanted to visit Titchmarsh NR in the hope of seeing the Glossy Ibis which has made its home here and we headed down the A14 as light rain began to fall. We failed in our efforts to see the ibis, apparently a barking dog scared it off from the scrape in front of Peter Scott Hide just before we got there. Other birds which were not disturbed by the mouthy mutt included a Water Rail, a Green Sandpiper and at least ten Great White Egrets. By now I was getting fed up with the wind and persuaded Alan to trade bird watching for beer swigging and we ended our day at the Duke's in Woodford where a pint went down very well indeed.

Great White and Little Egret