Red-footed Falcon found shot

Photo : Rare Bird Alert

Back in August this first summer Red-footed Falcon was delighting the assembled masses at Willow Tree Fen in Lincolnshire after spending a while doing the same in Stoke. On 19th September it was found dead close to the town of Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire and in the recording area of the Peterborough Bird Club. The bird had been shot.

This news doesn't seem to warrant any television coverage, although if you look hard enough the BBC have got a small story about it on their news website. The RSPB are offering a reward of £1000 for any information leading to a prosecution, it may as well be £10,000 for all the good it will do! Another wild life crime that will go unpunished.

In happier times when he graced Willow Tree Fen

Hoopoe at Crostwick in Norfolk

Finally managed to pick my 'bogey' today with the Hoopoe that has been present on horse paddocks at the village of Crostwick in Norfolk for the past week. I have 'chased' this bird for years, never 'catching' it, even abroad where they are apparently extremely easy to see.

After a bit of a run around in the rain, sleet and strong winds I finally managed to get to the correct site and whilst balancing on a plastic bucket in order to look over a 7ft high wooden fence, I got my first ever view of this rather splendid bird. When the sun did deem to shine the bird was never closer than about 200 metres away and when it did decide to come any closer the sun had gone in and more rain clouds appeared. It did feel good to pick that bogey though!

Long-tailed Duck, again

The Kingfisher

Long-tailed Duck at Deeping High Bank in Lincolnshire

This female/1st winter type Long-tailed Duck was first spotted on the River Welland at Deeping High Bank yesterday morning by local birder Tony Rowe. It was still present today in the fog and murk when myself, Paul Taylor and Mike Weedon paid a visit and showed quite well. This is the first time in around 9 years that a Long-tailed Duck has been seen locally and so was a very welcome life tick, in fact, it was the 219th bird species that I have seen in the area of the Peterborough Bird Club (PBC).

I crave forgiveness, dear reader for the poor quality in the above photos, but I had the ISO settings extremely high in order to get any sort of shutter speed due to the foggy conditions, which explains the amount of 'noise' present.