Galley comes good

Didn't get out till mid-morning today, but bumped into the whinchat again in the weedy field and also picked up last night's pied flycatcher at Shite Lane - handy for the year. Didn't have anything else on the rest of the circuit, and having met MOS we were pretty convinced that nothing much new was around. We decided to give the whinchat another bash, as MOS hadn't seen it, and I was very surprised to see a wryneck sitting on top of some brambles, whilst I was having a scan around. It flew over the dyke into a grassy field and we got great views (and some not so great photos) of it over the next few minutes - result!


 I headed off then, but news in the afternoon that MOS had seen a hippo very briefly dragged me back out to Shite Lane again. As I was trying to stalk a couple of spotted flycatchers for more camera practice (boy, do I need it!), the hippo flew out of a garden and landed on the same fenceline as the wryneck had been on only a couple of hours earlier - melodious warbler! (apologies for pushing the definition of record shots to a whole new low!) It seemed to be hanging about with a mixed flock of chats and a whitethroat. A pretty amayzing day for Galley, especially as all the birds were within 500 m of each other - wonder what we'll get tomorrow? (128).



Unfortunately in the pic on the left, the bird is flapping about, otherwise it would have been a perfect record shot, whilst in the second shot, it is cunningly hiding its primary tips behind the bramble branch - they were short though, honest!