Now that was a Surprise !

It was one of these kind of mornings where I did not really know what to be up to. I had thought about going over to the East Coast but the winds were moderate SSW so I didn't think it was worth it. At 10am I had a run round the Heritage Loch and out of the corner of my eye connected with my 1st Kingfisher of the year as it flew low over the water.

I came home and decided that after lunch I would have a go at Baron's Haugh. Subsequent to that, a Garganey on the pager at the Haugh further confirmed that a visit might be in order. A later glance at the pager and the words "Clyde", "Long Billed Dowitcher" and "Baron's Haugh" all in the one message had me out the door tout suite.

The bird news this week has been filled with news of American waders seemingly all over the place and today I am hearing of American passerines turning up on Scilly but despite that, I wasn't really anticipating any American action within 10 miles of home. Anyway, after a bit of chasing between the Marsh and Centenary hides and dodging a group of girls 'getting mad with it' in the Phoenix hide, I finally caught up with the bird from the Marsh hide. Although never close, it showed in the open constantly for a good hour and a half at least. This is the best I could come up with I'm afraid:



Long Billed Dowitcher


























This represents my 3rd LBD in the UK. The first was way back in the eighties at Caerlaverock & I well remember crooking my neck to see it out of one of the wee fibre glass hides they have down there. A far better view of one was had at Drift Reservoir in Cornwall on the way to Scillies, maybe 6 years ago. That was one of the years that I went down to Cornwall and spent a couple of nights in a B&B before the Saturday chopper flight to Scillies. With all this American stuff around this year methinks that it might be a good idea this year. Scillies in 3 weeks time, it has the makings of a very good week................here's hoping !!!