Wednesday 29 October 2008

At last!! Hooray!! Today was the day! Finally, in this, the 7th year of trying, I have reached 100 species in a single year. Each year I have spent more hours in the field, and this year I have been out every day (so far!). Given that the habitat is fairly limited on my patch, especially when it comes to a decent bit of water, I think I can give myself a large glass of Red to celebrate.
But.......the 100th species is still in a bit of a quandry. A Harrier (100) flew over Migrant Alley this afternoon, I only had about 20secs, to look and photo it. It was silhouetted against the sky, at about 150m away, A crow was chasing it ever higher and even further away, as it travelled from the South to the North-East. By it's size, and it's flight action I would go for a Hen Harrier, but i've sent out some pics to see what others think. Anyway a Harrier it is and that makes 100...... YES!!

Below are 4 pics (yes they are bad, but it's all I could do!) of the harrier, 3 with a crow to compare size. Anyone want to throw in an opinion, Hen or Marsh ?








Other birds of note today were a flock of around 50 FIELDFARE, some of which alighted on the sports pitch at the college, i've only had flyover singles up till now. A CORMORANT was fishing at the lake, as I arrived it flew up into a tree and joined a GREY HERON.






5 comments:

Greenie said...

Warren ,
We all knew you would make the ton , given the time you put in .
Well done , and well deserved .
Any more are just bonus now .

Oxenhoath Birds said...

Well done Warren you deserve the 100. Its good to read your daily exploits, and to see your superb photographic record.

Stewart said...

And its only late October! Two months to go and time for another one or two ticks. Any winter birds missing that you might get? Waxwing?

PS Looks like a Marsh to me? Its a bit buzzardy...

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Warren: Congrats on reaching your goal. I have been seeing a lot of hawks and an Eagle the last few days. They must be moving South.
I love the photo of the Cormorant and the Heron, amazing.

Alastair said...

Warren,
Amazing ... I used to live in Hadlow, I worked at the college. I never, well pretty much never, went birding there though, I used to watch Bough Beech Reservoir and then drive to Dungeness most weekends.

I'd be entirely happy with that as a Marsh Harrier by the way.