Pegwell Bay, tranquil, an early morning view as the sun breaks over the garage pools and the start of a new day and a new set of sightings on the excellent Planet Thanet website http://www.planetthanet.org/ .This should have been one of those memorable days when suddenly everything came together, goals were achieved irrespective of red beach balls in the play zone and a new UK and Kent bird could be enjoyed and photographed for posterity............NO CHANCE
Eagerly awaiting the first rays of sunlight across the bay the gathered troops from near and far waited in anticipation for Mr Zitting Cisticola or , Cisticola invisiblis as it turned out !
The expected Zit time arrived, 0800, 0830, 0900 but still no Zit, just more and more birders looking on, chatting, scouring the landscape for this tinker of a bird, the Chihuahua of the Bird World. But no, nothing bar a Wren, an excitable cyclist and a distant Peregrine. I stayed until 1400 but nothing. Undefeated I returned the next weekend following another appearance by Houdini and as a glutton for punishment I was back again the next day. In total I spent 19 hours over 4 trips looking at a Cisticola free zone but on the plus side getting to see some old mates including Mr Peggers himself Phil Milton and many mates from over the years.
In all all then not a total waste of time and an indication that this superb birding locality doesn't give up it's trophies easily and surely deserves the attention it gets with a long list of great birds and some great habbo to boot 'so to speak'
One day I'll clap eyes on a Zitty in the County and the 19 hours of birding and scanning will be but a distant memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment