Purple Heron - Ardea purpurea
Canon 800mm f7.1 for 1/1250th @ iso400
A visitor to the UK from somewhere either south or east of the UK. A juvenile Purple Heron more brown in colour than the adults more striking colours, have a google to see what the adults look like. The bird had been up in Lancashire for a few weeks, photographed extensively and scoped and "ticked" by numerous bird watchers. We were "up North" so we stopped by, the bird was in a paddock between two farmhouses, the occupants of those buildings now beginning to get their privacy back as the "followers" of such rarities had now largely dispersed having got their year or life "tick" !!! The heron had been feeding up on voles or mice in the fields - whilst we where there although it patiently waited for movement in the stubble of the field it had no luck catching anything.
Closer to home a Siberian Stonechat showed up - I have to say I would perhaps have dismissed it simply as another Stonechat, closer inspection of the shots Roy got when out with his chum Richard did indicate a bit of a white neck. Roy who often posts pictures and follows "stuff" on Bird Guides got Picture of the Week or similar for a very nice isolated shot of the bird with a clean background as it sat on top of some foliage.
I would guess many of the "hardened" birder types will be trawling the various forums in search of rarity "ticks" after Storm Ciara potentially blows hapless birds off course and on to UK shores.
A visitor to the UK from somewhere either south or east of the UK. A juvenile Purple Heron more brown in colour than the adults more striking colours, have a google to see what the adults look like. The bird had been up in Lancashire for a few weeks, photographed extensively and scoped and "ticked" by numerous bird watchers. We were "up North" so we stopped by, the bird was in a paddock between two farmhouses, the occupants of those buildings now beginning to get their privacy back as the "followers" of such rarities had now largely dispersed having got their year or life "tick" !!! The heron had been feeding up on voles or mice in the fields - whilst we where there although it patiently waited for movement in the stubble of the field it had no luck catching anything.
Closer to home a Siberian Stonechat showed up - I have to say I would perhaps have dismissed it simply as another Stonechat, closer inspection of the shots Roy got when out with his chum Richard did indicate a bit of a white neck. Roy who often posts pictures and follows "stuff" on Bird Guides got Picture of the Week or similar for a very nice isolated shot of the bird with a clean background as it sat on top of some foliage.
I would guess many of the "hardened" birder types will be trawling the various forums in search of rarity "ticks" after Storm Ciara potentially blows hapless birds off course and on to UK shores.