Tuesday 13 March 2012

Kingfisher surprise

Kingfisher (Peter Hewitt)
This morning I traipsed down to The Scrubs primarily to be interviewed by the author of a forthcoming book on urban gardening. She wanted to write a chapter on urban birding hence her meeting with me.

I was walking her around my patch giving her a very basic breakdown on urban birding when I noticed four birds at fairly low altitude heading towards me from the south. For a split second I thought that they were four more of the fairly common Feral Pigeons that had been pretty prevailant in the grey skies. That hunch was instantly dispelled when I realised that they were indeed waders. As they flew overhead I heard them give flutey whistles and I realised that they were Grey Plovers. Result! Our fourth ever record!

Still reeling from that discovery, five minutes later I noticed a small bird dart past us barely a foot above the football pitches making a serious beeline north. It was a Kingfisher!! Again, our fourth record. What are the chances of a Kingfisher flying over bone dry land during reasonable weather? Perhaps they do it all the time and we never notice?

One thing's for sure; anything can turn up anywhere at anytime!

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