A close call with the curse of Kent, a cracking day out at Bempton Cliffs RSPB and a Monty’s at last!
Northern Gannet Since my last blog I’ve finally managed to fill a gaping hole in my UK list - Montagu’s Harrier. This Harrier is sadly lost to the UK as a breeding bird and now only occurs a few times a year as a vagrant. I’ve seen them well before abroad but have managed to dip several in the UK, most notably when I spent 8 forlorn hours on a cold windy Cornwall hill after I arrived 5 minutes after the bird departed, see here. When a first summer female was reported as present over a couple of days at a site in Buckinghamshire I toyed with the idea of trying for it again. My mind was made up around midday a week or so ago when the bird was reported as “showing well”. After a two hour drive it took some six hours to reappear but just as I was giving up hope it was spotted by others present some way off and I finally managed to get good scope views, but no photos, of one of my big bogey birds. I’ve been thinking about visiting ...