Wednesday 12 January 2011

250th time lucky!

Today was the 250th date I've been out on the reserve since starting work at the BTO in July 2009 (which I didn't know until I checked my records in BirdTrack, honest). A fitting bird to mark the occasion then? Absolutely: Bittern! Not only does that push us up to 83 for the year (and/or fortnight, depending which way you look at it) but it puts my own Lakes list to 128, exactly level with Darren's Lodge list (and he started all this!).

Birders aren't known for their trusting approach to records from other birders, let alone civilians. I have to confess that when I heard the reports of 2 (or was that 3?!) Bitterns from the local fishermen last month my left eyebrow adopted an acute angle and I muttered something cynical, probably containing the phrase 'female Pheasant'. Note to self: Take seriously fishermen's recent report of "2 egrets that were bigger than the usual one"...

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