A Rarity In & Out of the UK!

 A Rarity In & Out of the UK!

We set off at 11:00pm on Friday and arrived at Ruan Lanihorne at 7:00am on Saturday. Once it was light enough to scan the estuary, we immediately started to look. There were many Canada Geese & Wigeon out there, as well as a few Curlew, Shelduck and even a Whimbrel. Suddenly, the first flock of Lapwing flew in and landed in the estuary. After scanning through them in flight, we couldn't see our target bird. We then watched two more groups of Lapwing fly in, all from different directions, as well as a large group of Golden Plover, until suddenly one person said our target bird was along the water's edge. He let me look through his scope and there it was! The Sociable Lapwing was showing distantly on the estuary. After getting good looks at it through the man's scope, I then managed to get it in my scope, before everything took off and I enjoyed a good view of its distinctive wing pattern. It then landed much closer, allowing me to get some digiscoped images of it through another person's scope. 

As well as the Sociable Lapwing, someone pointed out five Fallow Deer along the edge of the estuary, which was a new mammal for me!

In amongst the Wigeon flock I spotted the resident Leucistic Wigeon, which really stood out amongst the other birds. After getting some good views of the mega lapwing, we decided to head over to Burnham-on-Sea in hopes of seeing a Kentish Plover. On the way out, we noticed some birders looking into a tree. We found out later that they were looking at a Firecrest, my bogey bird.

We arrived at Burnham-on-Sea at around 1:00pm. After scanning for around an hour, we lost all hope and figured that the bird would be on the distant island as the tide was out. Our scope was not powerful enough to allow me to distinguish the birds on the island. With a race against the time and light, we set off to Stolford in hopes of getting Cirl Bunting.

We arrived at Stolford at around 3:00pm and started walking down the path to where they were feeding, spotting a Chiffchaff & a Wren along the way. Once we got there, the birders pointed out the male, as well as two female Cirl Buntings, eating from some seed, as well as a Reed Bunting. After getting some digiscoped images of it. We decided to make one last stop for one last mega before we call it a day.

We arrived at RSPB Greylake at around 3:40pm, seeing some Chaffinches in the car park. We walked towards Treehouse Hide and as soon as we got there, a kind man let me look through his scope pointed at the Baikal Teal, as well as patiently letting me get some digiscoped images of it. From the hide, there were also Wigeon, Teal, Snipe, Lapwing and Marsh Harrier, as well as few Great White Egrets.

Then, the same birder who showed us the teal pointed out two Cranes distantly, and he let me get a look at the bird through his scope as well as a digiscoped image of it. The Cranes here are not totally wild, but they are part of a reintroduction scheme and have been joined by wild, unringed birds as well as breeding independently in Somerset. Since they aren't a lifer, I'm still going to count it as a year tick. Then, another birder came and showed us the Green-winged Teal, however just as I got a view of it, all the ducks got flushed by a Marsh Harrier. We then kept an eye out for Hen Harrier as it turned dark, seeing a large flock of Starling fly past on their way to roost at Shapwick Heath NR. As it turned dark, we decided we had no choice but to call it a day and headed home.

Overall, a brilliant day with 1 MEGA lifer (Sociable Lapwing) and a new beautiful mammal (Sika Deer).