The lure of adding Great Spotted Cuckoo to the life list proved too much this morning. Meeting up with Brian at 4am, the 168 miles ahead of us passed without incident and having made good time we arrived in Reap Lane Portland around 6.45am. we joined a small group of birders already on site. Forty five minutes later there was still no sign of the bird. Brian having walked up the road and scanned the surrounding fields and allotments returned without having seen any sign of the bird.
Just as we began to think we had missed our chance of seeing the bird news broke that two birders had managed to locate the bird in the top field, We headed off up the hill and were pleased to find the bird perched up in a nearby bush. A nesting Blackbird soon started harassing the Cuckoo and it took flight and headed back down towards the allotments.
It eventually returned to it's favoured feeding area and we enjoyed watching it gorge itself on caterpillars for the next hour. Having been enjoyed by plenty of arriving birders, the bird took flight and headed off high towards the observatory, where it remained for the majority of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment