Yesterday was a sad day for me and my great friend Mark Hill and his sisters. Not long after our visit to Norfolk in early June his father Trevor passed away. He and his wife Sheila, who passed away a few years ago had both become like my second set of parents after my parents died many years ago. Yesterday me and the rest of our little birding group attended his funeral in Norwich. We will think of him when ever we meet up for a weekends birding in Norfolk or when we are trudging around the Isles of Scilly looking for a mega or when we are sitting in Juliet’s Garden looking out to sea.He will be sadly missed.
He would have appreciated the fact that Dave W and I managed to see a rarity at one of his favourite locations Cley NNT Reserve before attending the service.
Pacific Golden Plover
There were plenty of juvenile Avocets on the scrapes, with there parents taking a dislike to anything that came to close, especially Mallard ducklings.
This female Shelduck looks a bit worried with this landing.
These eight out of the nine Spoonbills present are doing what they do best, sleep.
Bushy Park
Here are a few lunchtime pictures
Chiffchaff
Linnet
A Wren on everyone’s favourite perch
The first Swallows fledged this week
This female seemed to agitate the resident male
Looks like a bad feather day
Comments
Incidentally, Cley is the only place I ever saw 9 Temmink's Stints together about 10 years ago and I don't ever expect that to be repeated anywhere to be honest.
Common Whitethroat 1m (flight song above Old Golf School field, area 39 at 06:45).
Black-headed Gull 4 (non-breeding plumage, on Boating Lake: 1 at area-36 feeding station at 05:55 + 3 in area 9).
Reed Warbler 2 (1 carrying food from Boathouse dock, area 5 towards Hanover Island and then Rail Ditch reed beds, areas 1 & 2 at 06:25 + 1 singing from area 13 reed bed).
Chiffchaff 3 (2 singing, in areas 1 and 13 respectively + 1 calling agitatedly from S perimeter of Open Air Theatre at 07:55).
Condolences about your friend Trevor Hill, Tony. (Apologies also for any inconvenience re the early, misdirected, mis-ID'd (!) phone call this morning. In future, rest assured that I'll text Dave instead - as originally intended!)
9 Temmink's would certainly be a hard one to beat. The only other Pacific Golden Plover that I have seen was also at Cley but way back in 1990.
We all make mistakes, phoning or texting me would also not be a problem.
Thank you for your very kind words about my father, he is a big loss but we have some great memories to look back on.
Glen,
That was very typical of Dad he was always helping people, I've seen him with a queue at his Scope, showing people who haven't got a Scope a distant bird.
Thank you.
Mark