5th time lucky...The Mythical Zit

31st Oct 2009, the final day of an interesting month that had seen me both local and not so local of recent weeks. Despite some excellent local birding and some great days out elsewhere the day to day workload had prevented me at times having much flexibility this autumn. An autumn that has so far seen virtually no Goldcrests, lots of Redwings flying over, a few megas and some superb showy Water Rails at Swanscombe. Fortunately I had an extended weekend last week and all was going well until 10.32 on Weds when news of the continued presence of the Fan-tailed Warbler at Pegwell had me thinking about what I was going to be doing Xmas day pre Turkey....................a morning at Pegwell maybe!
Back to work on the Thurs and Mr Zit starts his routine of performing to Phil and the visitors once again following a 10 days absence ! This morning I found out at work that the bird was still present and decided 'yet' again to head East to Pegwell Bay for a presumed fruitless session.

And so it came to pass that at approx 1145 having been on site for 30 mins and with news that that the bird had gone to ground again that suddenly whilst walking through an area behind the hide, Mister Sept 6th 2009 had finally decided to show himself to me in my 20th hour of searching for this Enigma. I could hardly contain my excitement and soon a few birders arrived to feast their eyes on this globally abundant species that hopefully, 'if not already' gain a foothold on British soil

Calling occasionally the bird showed well at times and testament to the fact that I don't give in easily and this day fortune was on my side. I also had a Jack Snipe drop in, 2 Brambling flew over and a mixed flock of Chaffinch and Reed Bunting in the area.

The afternoon was spent looking for the equally mythical St Augustines' Park in Ramsgate that I eventually found under a different name and despite not locating the Pallas's had two cracking Firecrest and a Woodcock(Timber Dick) that I though was a Partridge originally, 'way out there' but the views were brief, flying away, drizzle, wooded, etc. I then spent an hour or so wandering around with Phil Milton where we saw a few bits and pieces and so ended a memorable afternoon in the field seeing some great birds, great company, some new sites for me, and special thanks to Gadget of Planet Thanet for the 'birders guide to Ramsgates unknown park names' !!