Ring-tailed Ouzel gets us twozl

Quite a cracking morning at The Lodge today.  Darren did a bit of vismig first thing, but apart from Wood Pigeons not much else was moving.  His highlight were up to three Woodlarks and a mighty Ring Ouzel south-west, leveling the playing field between RSPB and BTO.

I arrived a little later after being on an adjacent hill seeing just as little.  As I arrived, one of the Woodlarks was on a song-flight that went kept going for the next hour non-stop.  A Raven cronked over, and just as I reached the vismig spot another Ring Ouzel zoomed over west - right over Darren's head (and who never saw it!)

The best was saved to last however, when we tried to locate a furiously cronking Raven in a pine belt.  While scanning the tops of the trees a dark brown raptor came out the top of one of them - a ring-tail Hen Harrier!  Boom!  After an unid'd ring-tail over the house on Friday, this baby sealed the deal.

I think that makes us leaders in the bird stakes once again?  I should come to work at weekends more often...;-)

Wood you believe it?!

Stop press news: Paul Stancliffe and Kate Risely have just heard a Woodlark singing whilst they were out on the reserve filming a Breeding Bird Survey training video! Those who've followed this blog for its entirety will know that this one really hurt the Breckland-based White Nuns when it squeezed onto The Lodgers' list way back in March - there was always a slight chance of us getting Woodlark back in the autumn but having never seen/heard one on/from the Lakes myself, I wasn't holding out much hope. I refer you to the following phrase:

Get in!

Team BTO will not like this...

Not so fast Team BTO!

Walking home last night, I finally met up with our new warden and arch bird-finder Andy Schofield. An illuminating conversation revealed that on Andy's fourth day at The Lodge (Feb 4th), he had heard a Woodlark singing from a patch of rough grassland opposite The Lodge gatehouse called Woodcock Covert. He subsequently heard it on the 7th. 

So I needn't beat myself up about yesterday's silent 'short-tailed larks' anymore.

Woodlark, OTL and all square at BTO 98 - RSPB 98 (subject to acceptance - hereafter STA).

NB: this record is subject to acceptance by the Bedfordshire Bird Club Rarities Committee

Seen and not heard, heard and not seen

The first email I opened upon arrival at work this morning was from Lodge librarian Ian Dawson. Ian thought that he had heard a snatch of Firecrest song in the gardens yesterday evening, but had not seen it or heard it subsequently. I spent 30 minutes listening this morning, but to no avail. Now, if Ian thinks that he has heard a Firecrest, there is a very, very good chance that it was a Firecrest.

I remain hopeful we can relocate it if it is still around.

To add insult to injury, on my walk in to work this morning, two short-tailed larks (not the ones you find in Goa) with rounded wings flew north over Sandy Ridge. I know what they were, you know what they were, but any description would prove inadequate.

These two examples highlight the importance of integrity in listing and birding. It would be quite easy for Ian to say that he had definitely heard a Firecrest and it would be even easier for me to pretend I had heard my birds call. Hopefully, our honesty will be rewarded and both species will fall this spring.