David, Malcolm, Roger and I
were intending to go to Stow-on-the-Wold to see a Blue Rock Thrush, which had
been present for several days but hadn't been identified until late on
Sunday. With dense fog being forecast we
hadn’t rushed to get away but with no fog at 07:30 we assembled at Malcolm’s at
09:00 and headed off.
The journey was uneventful and
in bright sunlight the whole time with no suggestion of any fog. Other than
several Buzzards and three Kestrels we hadn’t seen anything else of note when
we arrived at Stow. After parking and
getting ready we walked the short distance onto and housing estate where the
bird was frequenting.
It had been showing well but
had flown just before we arrived but it wasn’t too long before it reappeared
but only David managed to see it before it dropped into a garden. Malcolm and I walked closer to the area where
it had been seen and found it sat on a roof but as I was about to fire off a
few shots it dropped into the garden. It
was several minutes before it reappeared but then we had some excellent views
as it perched on the surrounding rooftops.
It must have been in view for about twenty minutes but as it disappeared
I realised I hadn’t seen either David or Roger.
I called Roger who was still in the area we started in and the bird was
now showing well there. I joined him and
David and had further excellent views of the bird but it disappeared
again. We hung around for over an hour
where there was no further sign and we eventually decided to head off as fog
was forecast again this evening and we preferred to be closer to home if it did
develop. A Buzzard had flown over during
our stay but we saw nothing else of note.
Blue Rock Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush
We stopped near Combrook for
some lunch on the journey before we went to Shawell hoping to find a Caspian
Gull as seven had been reported there yesterday.
After parking we walked
alongside the A5 to view the pools where the gulls gather and bathe. There were a few Black-headed and Common
Gulls resting on the first pit but they soon flew off and on checking the
second pit, it was also devoid of gulls.
We could see thousands of gulls over the rubbish tip and several
eventually flew towards and landed on the second pit. We walked to the second pit where there was
now a nice concentration of birds, which included Black-headed, Common, Lesser
Black-backed and Herring Gulls. David
mentioned he might have a Caspian but as we started to look for it they all
took-off and flew off. There were still
plenty of birds over the tip and a field and a field to the east was also
covered in gulls. We remained in
position but eventually most of the gulls were flying off to the south-west
presumably heading to roost at Draycote Water and so we called it a day.
Whilst at Shawell we saw good
numbers of Teal and just before we departed several hundred Wigeon dropped in
but the only other waterfowl were several Tufted Ducks, a single Gadwall and a single
female Shoveler. A Sparrowhawk also made
a brief visit and a Buzzard was observed perched in a distant tree.
The Blue Rock Thrush is a new
UK-tick for me but like all vagrants seen in strange locations its origin comes
into question and here had already been some debate on line. However considering the number of birds seen
this autumn from the east hopefully it will be accepted as a genuine vagrant.
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