A slight gap in blog posts, mainly because it’s been so
quiet. Desperately quiet. It’s the peak of what’s considered the busiest time
in the British birding calendar, and I’m currently on my longest gap without a
year tick in 2017! It’s not about the lack of year ticks though - that isn't really frustrating. It’s about the
grim pace of things, particularly the past fortnight. Next to no signs of
visible migration, either in the skies or on the deck, and a discouraging
number of birds.
Only this week, in response to this poor run, have I slightly
taken my foot off the gas, but I’ve still been a couple of times. Clear skies
and a gentle north-west wind on Tuesday morning seemed promising, but aside
from a few Chaffinches on the deck, there was nothing new. Anyway, I’ll keep
plugging away, despite the seemingly endless forecast of westerlies. The
Thrushes will have to arrive at some point…
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| Green circle marks the spot - the private pond where a Bittern was seen in 1996 |
Going back to August (oh productive August, with its 5 year
ticks) I was delighted to add Yellow-legged Gull to the historical site list,
and in a milestone capacity, with it seemingly becoming the 150th
Thorncombe Street area bird. However, it turns out it was the 151st,
after a golden nugget of information from Wes A confirmed that, rather
astonishingly, a Bittern was recorded in 1996.
A relation of Wes’s was the Wintershall gamekeeper in the
1990’s, and as well as regular sightings of Grey Partridge (which is now extremely
rare here), he also had a Bittern on one of the many private ponds within the
estate, near Honeymead Barn. These particular ponds are almost impossible to
view, with no footpaths running nearby, and I’ve only managed a couple of
glances before.
There’s no doubt that this pond (which I’ve marked in the
photo in this blog) and the others adjacent to it, particularly the largest one
at Grafham Grange, has the potential for good birds. Sadly, though, I’m
unlikely to ever know. Bittern becomes another bird that will be exceptionally difficult
to get back here, and makes it 5 heron/egret species for the patch, pretty
crazy given the general dearth of water bodies. It also offers a bit of
inspiration during a time when it’s particularly lacking.
