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Having already birded the Nene Washes RSPB reserve in the morning, I found myself at Woodwalton Fen in the afternoon, trying to find a Bearded Tit and Firecrest found by Mark Hawkes, Jono Leadley and Duncan Poyser et al earlier in the day.
With the Bearded Tit heard (too many reeds to bother looking for the bugger!), I slogged around for an hour and a half in search of the Firecrest, when… bingo! There it was, looking right back at me from a nearby sallow.
I was just drinking in the feat of relocating this gem when the phone rang. It was good friend Brian Stone (on his hols in Cornwall) informing me that Mark Hawkes and co had now found a Great Grey Shrike at... the Nene Washes! Aaagh!
A quick dash back to the reserve and I was enjoying this delightful bird at the western end of the drove as it fed from fence posts and bushes, building up quite a larder.
It could be very flighty and frequently popped up behind you if you weren't paying attention.
Well done Hawkesy and co for providing me a frantic, but memorable, day of catch-up! At least when I managed to find something for myself - a Curlew Sand on nearby Prior's Fen.
19 October 2002
Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica APO Televid 77 with 20xWA
© Steve Dudley
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