Midlands Mega day! PGP and Night Heron!

27/07/14

Yikes, it isn't very often I find myself wanting to drive from East Anglia back to the midlands to the inland wader hotspot that is Middleton lakes RSPB! However, when news of a 'Lesser' Golden Plover emerged from the site as we were checking out the Stilts at Cavenham pits a moment of panic arises.

Without doubt the correct decision for the day was to continue on as planned and a brilliant day was had due to that. The worry came as I anxiously slept with the hope it was present the next morning!

And it was!

Just over an hour later, and following the long walk that I remembered from my last, and only other visit to the site, the usual scrum of birders could be seen huddled near the 2nd screen.

Immediately you could tell the bird wasn't playing ball and was feeding in weeds/a channel out of view a considerable distance from the viewpoint. A full 40 minutes passed, filled with chatter with other birders and incessant scanning when from beside me a shout 'It's out'.

And there it was, a spanking summer plumaged PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER!!

Surely a male due to its immaculate plumage, the bird then gave nice, but as already mentioned, distant views on the far shoreline. Even from this considerable distance, the bird gave off a very different impression to European Golden Plover, being much darker overall, standing on taller legs. Honestly just a rather smart looking elegant bird.

After a good time giving the crowd a show, it slinked off back into the vegetation, and a huge piece of luck followed as the Night Heron was still present just up the road, and with the patchworker of Seeswood Pool, and midlands photographer extraordinaire Dave Hutton being on site, he kindly offered to show us the 'quick way' to Seeswood through the wilds of Warwickshire, something I am not familiar with at all!

After a short journey we pulled up adjacent to the pool, and a short walk led us to a bank opposite an area of submerged willows, and showing at the base of those willows was a stunning adult NIGHT HERON! Scope views were actually very good as it snoozed in the shadows of the overhanging willows, occasionally opening its stunning scarlet red eye on what was a very hot midsummers day!

After a while however, it became more active, and started fishing actively, in the exact same spot it was roosting in.

Although we hung around for a fair while as the bird had a habit of flying out into the open on a fishermans jetty, time eventually run out and we had to head off, but I left happy having seen two midlands megas, one being a regional first, the other being a very scarce visitor, not the worst of days for the midlands!

MB

The BIG one (2011)

2011,

Although not exactly an amazing year for rare birds (for me anyway) i did have some amazing times, and this post is here to summarise it all!

January:

My year started on the 1st (obviously) with a trip into the Wyre, to see the HAWFINCH'S that were showing, in a few hours i counted 5 birds! The 3rd was a trip to Slimbridge where the year list took a BIG bump Upwards, Many highlights from the day,LESSER SCAUP,2 GREATER SCAUP, SMEW, and nearly 600 WHITE-FRONTED GEESE! amongst hundreds of Waterbirds! 8th was at Upton Warren, where we saw 3 WAXWING's, 13th i found a flock of 42 WAXWING's while on my dinner break at school in Gornal! 14th we visited Stubbers Green and Chasewater, a Cracking Drake SMEW and 7 Goldeneye being the highlights! 22nd- Trimpley Res, 2 WAXWING's were feeding in the car park and 56 Mandarin and 13 Goosander were on the river!

February:

Stubbers Green on 4th got me an ICELAND GULL and a few other gull year ticks, 5th saw me seeing a flock of 10 Goosander at Upton warren (the reserve record!) and 12th i had a Pink-Footed Goose at the same locality. On 15th Sheepwash had 40 Goosander!, Back to Upton on 18th, for better views of the Pink-Footed Goose, as well as the first returning Oystercatcher and Avocet! Upton again for 19th for a Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet and Pink-foot goose again. Also on 19th, we had 4 WAXWINGS in Kidderminster, and a flock of 30 at Finstall near Bromsgrove.

20th Revealed a patch revelation, 3 BRAMBLINGS were in the lickhill birchwood!, A Crossbill and 2 Mealy Redpoll were also on Patch!

21st saw a female Brambling still in the wood, and an increase in Siskin Numbers! Also that day, we paid homage to the Drake RED-BRESTED MERGANSER at Bittell, on 22nd a Brambling came into the Garden, as well as 15 Lesserpoll, 50 Siskin and 20 Goldfinch. 3 BRAMBLINGS were still in the nearby birchwood, as well as a early BLACKCAP.

25th revealed a flock of 48 WAXWINGS in the birchwood for about an hour feeding on mistletoe berries, sometimes in the same scope view as 2 BRAMBLING!

Later that day, we headed into the Wyre for 4+ HAWFINCH, 6 BRAMBLING and 2 DIPPER.

26th there was 2 BRAMBLING in the Garden with a single Lesser Redpoll.

March:

By 5th 10 BRAMBLING were in the Birchwood, as well as quite a large accompanying Finch flock, on 6th there was 14 BRAMBLING, on 12th there was our first multiple sighting of BRAMBLING in the garden.

18th saw a 2nd Summer MEDDITTERANEAN GULL at Upton, and also a stunning drake GOLDENEYE. 19, The Med gull remained and i also saw a Jack snipe. 27th saw the largest recorded flock of Brambling on the patch, with a staggering 24+ birds!

April:

2nd saw my first SWALLOW of the year! 2 Bramblings remained in Garden.

Also on 2nd, the pink-footed goose was still at Upton, the Avocet flock had shot up to 17, there was 8 LRP, a Blackwit, the Med Gull and my first Common Tern of the year.

3rd saw 14 Brambling still on the patch.

On 9th, a flock of 6 Brambling were in the Garden!

Again on 9th, we saw the Med Gull at upton, but joining it was also 2 near summer plumaged adult LITTLE GULLS! 19 Avocet was a huge number!

10th Was the 'Bloggers day out in Staff's' with any highlights, Great Grey Shrike, Red kite, Tree Pipit, Redstart, Wheatear and Stonechat amongst others!

My first Lesser and Common Whitethroat came on 19th and on 22nd we wandered into the Wyre, 5+ Redstarts, 8+ WOOD WARBLER and a male PIED FLYCATHER being the highlights among many Warblers. By 23rd Nesting was underway at upton, But passage had only just started (again) and a Dunlin was on show. the 29th and 30th at Upton was potentially the weekend this year, a WOOD SANDPIPER, a Greenhank and a WHIMBREL were showing on 29th, on 30th while at the Moors pool, i saw a flock of 27 fly over BAR-TAILED GODWITS!!! combined with the single that was still at the flashes that made 28 for the day, a reserve and county (?) record, the WOOD SANDPIPER and WHIMBREL remained, and 2 ARCTIC TERN were on the moors!

30th at Earswood saw 2 ARCTIC TERN aswell as a showy Mandarin.

May:

1st: My first Swift.

6th, i found 9 Mandarin on the patch at blackstone! and 3 Goosander, also the next day 5 Mandarin and 3 Goosander.

7th at Earlswood i found 2 summer plumaged adult LITTLE GULLSand an ARCTIC TERN!

on 14th I twitched the BLACK-NECKED GREBE at Bittell.

An amazing find for Matt G (the Earlswood Blog) saw me seeing a NIGHT HERON at Earlswood on 21st after a very long wait. Cheers Matt

27th: A female Mandarin with 11 chicks on the patch!

(The next bit is over the 2 months but i will put it all in june)

June: on 31st May, At Stackpole head in wales we saw 3 WHIMBREL fly in off the sea! as well as getting out usual wales birds such as the iconic Chough!

On 2nd we visited Strumble head, and saw 400+ Manx Shearwaters offshore, 3 Puffin flew past as well as large numbers of Many Seabird species (no odd species though)

Now came my Highlight of the year, on 12th, i found 3 LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER and i was able to get some superb views over the next few weeks of them on feeders or in Tree's, and the fact they bred at the site made my year! Great Birding!

On 26th I found another female Mandarin on the patch with 3 Chicks, these went on to fledge while the 11 chicks were all predated!

July

2nd: 2 Redstart were showing at Upton, and an amazing flock of 12 Blackwits! On 12th I found a stunning male WHINCHAT at Sheepwash, which i also have down as one of my better birds of the year. on an Urban patch!!

On 23rd a Little Egret roosted at Upton. On 30th there was 2 Little Egrets at Upton, and an adult MED GULL roosted with the leg ring 5P5.

August:

5th Female Mandain with 2 fledged young on the patch, on 6th the female LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER re-appears at the site briefly! and at Earlswood later in the day, a juv Dunlin shows amazingly well! The roost at Upton that evening had a 1st winter MED GULL.

on 14th a RUFF was at Upton.

On 19th i had amazing views of a Hobby on the patch. 22nd saw another Sheepwash Mega, a juv Greenshank! on 26th i twicthed the Chelmarsh ARCTIC SKUA and was left with good impressions of this location!

on 30th I returned to Chelmarsh, and had MUCH better views of the ARCTIC SKUA closer in, aswell as 63+ Goosander! 30th we also went to Upton, where we saw 2 Spotted Flycatcher. Slimbridge on 31st saw me seeing a juv CURLEW SANDPIPER amongst the Esturine Waders.

September:

Started well on 3rd, when i had great perched views of a juv BLACK TERN at upton. On 4th, i caught up with the shenstone BLACK REDSTART on my 2nd try (Good find JK!) which shown quite well! 10th i was back at upton to see a Juv ARCTIC TERN with the company of my Girlfriend, on 12th we struck lucky againat Sheepwash, when I found 2 ARCTIC TERN and a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER! on 17th, i again saw 2 ARCTIC TERN at upton on Amys Marsh.

18th i again popped into Shenstone for another look at the BLACK REDSTART, which again showed well!

October:

A juv RUFF was briefly on the patch on 1st, my only patch first of the year! before flying off North upriver, Another Sheepwash Mega on 3rd with a Wigeon! Upton on 15th had a Pintail and 3 Common Gull (thats a good number at upton!) On 26th, we headed back down to Slimbridge, where we saw the first returning winter visitors, 3 Bewick Swans, 31 White fronted geese, An AVOCET and a CURLEW SANDPIPER were welcomed additions to the day! Our visit coencided with a rare Wheatear being found, so we went down for a look.

The PIED WHEATEAR shown superbly throughout the time i was there! An obliging rarity!, a northern Wheatear and a Merlin were also noted here!

on 30th i saw a very late SWALLOW on the patch, as well as 2 Goosander, Mandarin and Little Grebe.

A visit to the site revealed a brief look at the male LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER after a long absense!

November:

11th saw me seeing 2 1st winter drake RED BRESTED MERGANSERS at Fen's Pool's in the very late evening, i saw a Yellow legged gull ast Bittell on 12th.

On 21st, was overjoyed to see a stunning adult RED-THROATED DIVER on the patch! One of my highlights of the year! What a bird to see so close! (Thanks JK!)

On 27th, i made the trip up to Titterstone Clee for the DESERT WHEATEAR (Thanks again JK!), which shown amazingly!, we dropped into another Shrop's site on the way home, Chelmarsh and saw the RED-THROATED DIVER (same bird as the patch), A LITTLE GULL and 2 Yellow-legged gulls!

December:

3 CORN BUNTINGS were showing at Shenstone. on 7th i Found a first winter LITTLE GULL at Earlswood whcih stayed just long enough for MG to see it!

From now on the birding cooled down, clocking Goosander at Sheepwash and on the patch, although my last sheepwash mega of the year, a Female SHOVELER and 9 goosander.

On 28th 2 Yellow-legged gulls were at Chelmarsh in the Gull roost.

Now i will post a Video showing my favorite Birds/Photos/Videos from 2011, hope you like it!

I know this has been a long post, But thankyou for reading my blog over this last year, it has kept me going, and i can say, if it wasnt you lot, i would'nt be Blogging now, so thankyou guys for your support, and i hope you drop in throughout the next year too!

Thankyou all!

I know its late but i hope everyone has an amazing bird filled new year!

Cheers

MB

Twitching

After news Emerged on the early morning of the 15/05 that Matt Griffiths from the Earlswood Blog had found a Night Heron at earlswood lakes i was generally quite pissed off, i had been there the previous evening with little to show for it. and despite in the evening passing within a few miles of the lakes, i was unable to get there, and when news emerged later that evening that the bird was showing as i was driving past left me in even more bad mood.

But as the week passed positive news was released day after day, the bird was still there and some amazing photos were emerging, but i just had a horrible feeling that it would dissapear before i could get there, Saturday came, to be greeted by the news that the bird was still at the lakes, but extremely sporadic reports left me in dought that the bird would show, I walked from the norton lane Garden to the lakes at around 4pm, and preceded to walk to the causeway, where i met Kevin from 'Diary of a birding medic' who was also after the bird, after a chat i walked down towards terrys pool, as some news shown the bird had shown there a few time in the day, but after a walk around the pool, with nothing to show i walked to springbrook lane, where also there was very little of note, i walked back towards the Cway via Windmill Pool and again saw very little Bar the Mandarin which is ever present and was seen to have sexual relations with a mallard..

The Crowd at the Cway was now well into Double Figures, with many 'Famous' Birders/photographers present, most of whom tried to get pictures of the Mandarin, while there i was watching Swifts and Terns And couldnt be bothered to waste the energy to walk to the other side of the road to have a nosy at the worlds most confiding (plasitic) Mandarin.

Time dragged on, with very little to watch. Just me knowing this would be my only chance to see the bird with going on holiday the next week, i was detrmined to see it, however many time from 7:30 onwards i was threatening to leave, and by the looks of it so did most of the crowd, many people dissapeared and it was left to 7 inhumane People to wait for the heron to show. A few of their large grey cousion flew past but at 8:29, nearly 4 1/2 hours after ariving i spotted a heron flying in over windmill pool

'NIGHT HERON'

You could just feel the instant relief of the long staying crowd to finally lock onto the bird, as it flew south along the pool your could see all its major features and it was great to catch up with this species again, a british lifer.

(This photo was taken in Turkey (April 2010) but i have edited it to make it more like the Earlswood bird by flipping the image and darkening it to make it more like the scene, other than some cropping, there are no other alterations)

The sections of birders set off into two groups, and we ( Andy P, my dad and me) decided to follow Matt along the eastern bank of windmill pool, so we could view the willows on the other side, there wasnt a night heron there so we checked the scrub to the south of windmill pool where we had decent views of a male and female CUCKOO as they flew around, and perched in the area, we decided to not venture onto the Scrubland as to not disturb the bird.

Thanks must be given to Matt for finding this bird on his patch, after spending very long periods 'working the place', and his willingness to show it to other birders, a well deserved patch bird.

Keep it up

MB

14/05/11 continued

Upton Warren

To be completly and truily honest, the summer doldrums had started, but a nice summer plumages 'schinzii' race DUNLIN was feeding on the flash during a heavy downpour, and an unseasonal Common Snipe shown well in front of the hide,

Also the sheer amount of Avocet Chicks, some 21 Chicks had hatched with many sitting birds still to hatch.

Other than this, it was quite quiet.

(Dunlin during downpour)

MB

TURKEY!!!!!!!

My holiday in Turkey was amazing with my great spots, this will be a long post but i hope to keep you interested by photos and just plain curiosity, welcome to 'TURKEY, '2010''

We arrived in Antalya airport on the 8th, we departed to our hotel on a coach, we hadn't even left the airport before i had a life tick up, CRESTED LARK(world 207), not long after another lifer, a stonking male LESSER KESTREL(world 208). It turns out that this bird and a female roosted regularly on our hotel and was therefore seen most days.

Later that evening a stroll around the hotel grounds produced a WHITE SPECTACLED(yellow vented) BULBUL (209)

9th

Dawn broke and a quick look from my balcony produced a flock of swallow and sand martin swirling around above me, but quickly a much larger bird flew in, the unmistakable jizz of a swift, just huge ALPINE SWIFT......(210), the bird circled with the flock for a few minutes above the hotel but then flew away towards Antalya town..

Then it was down to the beech, a gull was flying up and down the beech but at first I was unable to identify it, but then I remembered i wasn't in Britain and i need to think outside the box, I took in all the features and came to the conclusion that the only bird it could be was a 1st summer AUDOUINS GULL (211), as it happened this bird hung around for the rest of the day but only reappeared briefly now and then, another lifer quickly followed as a winter plumaged GULL BILLED TERN(212) flew along the beach, 2 Crested lark were feeding on the beech around the sun loungers!!!!!, 3 White spectacled Bulbuls were around the grounds and a few swift hawked above

As the day closed to an end a few hundred swallow piled over west, but out at sea a big bird caught my eye, a very big bird, a pink FLAMINGO (213)flying east along the coast. the bird slowly made its way into the distance allowing me to watch it for about 3 mins, but too far out of my camera range..

2 RED RUMPED SWALLOW(214) flew over with the flock of swallow

10th

This day I up the beach, about 200m up the beach I stopped because 2 LRP were on a wasteground there, I followed, and was quickly led into a barrage of crested lark song, there were everywhere, in total 17!! of these birds were singing and gowd knows how many females were tucked up in there,

3 HOODED CROW(215 flew in and landed in the centre of the wasteland, 10 Gull billed terns were fishing ofshore and a flock of 6 LBBG(of race 'fuscus' eg baltic gull) flew over south with 2 Yellow legged gulls, 2 White spectacled bulbul were in the hotel grounds.

11th

A quick day this at 11am while sitting on a lounger by the pool a stunning HOOPOE flew over(216), later that day I visited the wasteground again with my stepdads camera and check this.....

9 Crested lark were here and many were singing:

(note the rusty underwings and tail pattern)

The Hooded crow flock was now on 4:

A Lesser whitethroat with pale 'spectacles' was in a hedge and 3 White spectacled bulbul were again in the hotel and the 2 Lesser kestrel roosted on the roof

now it goes quiet for a few days:

12th

The only birthday surprise was a flock of 41 Yellow legged gull which flew west offshore, a few Red rumped swallow flew over and a White spectacled Bulbul was around

13th

The 3 Bulbul were again about and one each of Crested lark and YL gull flew over but the highlight was the (re) appearance of an Alpine Swift, annoyingly while I was eating my tea in the hotel restaurant.......

14th

Starting to get used to the normal stuff now, the 3 Bulbul again, 5 Crested lark, 1 Lesser kestrel, 2 White wagtail and a YL gull

15th

Bulbuls again. not much else....

16th

I walked further up the beach than before and it reaped rewards, I found a lake where for the rest of the holiday most of my birding was situated....

2 PURPLE HERON were quickly spotted flying east offshore and 3 Gull billed terns were fishing offshore, a few Yellow legged gulls flew over, and then my attention turned to the lake, loads(20c) LRP were plastered up the shore and Reed warblers were singing everywhere, the odd Sedge warbler and the song of many Crested lark (again 20c),

An adult BALTIC GULL flew east back to its breeding grounds, walking over the ridge of a sand dune three strikingly black and white birds were flushed from the waters edge(no idea they where there), got me onto 3 BLACK WINGED STILTS(217), the birds flew a short distance behind another dune and landed where the birds shown superbly for ages at extremely close range

I moved to an area with the sun behind me and look at these beautys:

while in the exitement of the stilts i quickly latched onto 5 'egrets' which had just taken flight from further up the beech, the birds flew west towards were i was standing and after a minuite they had gone from egrets to SQUACCO HERONS(218):

(a bit overexposed but they are squacco).

Now with the lake done i decided to go up the path which follows the west side of the lake which turned out to be a good idea with a good load of warblers.......

8 Lesser whitethroat were hopping about on the path but one seemed more secretive hopping in and out of grass,in the shadows of a wall. I fired off a few shots and passed it off as another whitethroat and walked on. I got into a shade patch and looked at my images, the bird on the monitor shown pale legs and a pinkish throat with white 'moustach', oh my god, i looked back at the area the bird had been in and it was still there, a female SUBALPINE WARBLER(219) OK, not the stonking male I was after but who cares, and the photo in question, here it is:

(the moustach stripe can be clearly seen on other pics, but note all the other pro-subalpine features)

With 4 species of warbler i was on a roll with a great OLIVACEOUS WARBLER(220) which gave point blank views as I was changing my battery, it then flew off into the grounds of the adjacent hotel and wasn't seen again. about a hundred metres of path later I turned back as all the warbler activity was centered around the reeds, I got back and a 'grey warbler' landed on the hedgeline, my mind quickly changed from Blackcap to RUPPELL'S WARBLER(221) the second i latched onto it, it obligingly perched on the hedge but into direct sunlight.....

As the light was dying I doodled back to the hotel watching Gull billed terns and YL gulls flyby......

17th

Back up to the lake had me watching a superb flock of 10, yes 10 Black winged stilts.

I scurried off to the Ruppells site and look what greeted me......

The male Ruppell's warbler showed well at a metre or 2 range in a trackside bush, but other warblers were hard to come by 4 female Subalpine warblers were on the roadside bushes, as was a female blackcap, i headed back to the lake where i was just in time to witness 11 Mediterranean Gull fly east offshore, I have never seen more than a lone med so to see a whole flock was mindblowing........

14 Gull billed terns quickly followed.

I spun on my heels and look at the lake, 2 waders were on the near shore, right next to each other, I gained a closer look and this is what i saw:

A male KENTISH PLOVER(222) feeding with a moulting adult LITTLE STINT. WOW, my kind of birding, they often fed around each other and shown superbly well, 2 super little birds.

2 SERIN(223) flew over into the grounds of the hotel where I from now on often saw them...

Then a monster of a tern flew in, a big red beak, short tail, CASPIAN TERN,(224) omfg, this thing was huge as it flew along behind a boat in an east direction, the bird then overtook the boat and continued its flight towards greece

For the last time I turned around and looked for warblers with no extra species added, I walked the road back to the hotel and stopped next to a river where a Common sandpiper landed directly in front of me a metre away, I took a series of shots of the bird unaware of me, but the shot i am going to show is the one where I realised I was there and called and flew off.

18th

Back again, to the lake for yet another day of surprises, a promising start when a Red rumped swallow flew over, I climbed the dune where the stilts were but there was none but instead it had been replaced by a wheatear, in flight the wheatear was so striking it was unbelievable, all brow with that typical wheatear tail superb, it was an ISERBALINE WHEATEAR(226), it was actively feeding around me and seemed unperturbed., after a few confirmation shots i left it on its own.

The 3 Serin landed in the hotel grounds. working my way up the lake I saw 4 heron flying in, NIGHT HERON(225), they circled above the reeds for a bit then landed in a pool among the reeds(which I later found)

There was little going on on the lake so I headed behind the lake, where a surprise was in store,

I saw a movement in the sand ahead of me and it turned out to be no less than a SHORT TOED LARK(227)it blended in so well in with the sand I almost trod on it.

As I said the Night herons were relocated,

2 GRACEFUL PRINIA(228) were lurking about in the reeds and also 2 un-id'd warblers which I still need to show somebody, a turtle gave me a fright when I stumbled upon it( not literally) in the scrub, a bird then popped up on a bush some way away, I locked my camera onto it and yessssssssssssssssssssssssss,

Bogey bird gone.......

A stonking, immaculate, pristine summer plumaged RED BACKED SHRIKE(229), I have been waiting to get one of these since the one on the patch a few years ago(grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr), and for it to be a stonking male it was a great feeling, what a bird.....

The bird flew a short distance and disappeared, although a flock of 7 White spectacled bulbul was slight compensation, the usual Hooded crows and Gull billed terns, Crested larks were seen, but also 1 Meadow pipit and a Tree pipit

19th

A day trip, the coach ride between the places was best, loads of Red rumped swallow, a Sparrowhawk, a load of Yellow legged gulls, but the highlights were a LONG LEGGED BUZZARD(230) which flew low over the coach in the country, a LESSER GREY SHRIKE(231) which was seen within 100m of the ll buzzard atop a bush, a dark morph HONEY BUZZARD which also flew across the coach but nowhere near the other buzzard site, and finally 2 WHITE STORK which were feeding in a flooded field near a coca cola distribution place near Antalya

20th

4 White spectacled bulbul, 1 Gull billed tern and a Lesser ketrel,

21st

An early morning trip to the shops rewarded me with a immense flock of 14 GREAT EGRET(232) which flew in off the sea and flew north on its migration into Europe(or elsewhere),

A male SPANNISH SPARROW(234) was singing near the front entrance, and what a different song it is, easily recognizable from house sparrow.

Later that evening a rufous female RED FOOTED FALCON(235) flew over in a NW direction(as was most of the passage throughout the holiday) , 7 Red rumped swallow also

22nd

A Little egret flew over, the Spanish sparrow was singing all over the site being very mobile today. 5 Red rumped swallow flew over, a very large movement of Swallow today consisting of 700+ birds all moving to the west

23rd

The Spanish sparrow was still holding territory and 5 YL gulls flew over, a flock of 4 GLOSSY IBIS flew over at c 11am off the sea, and later that evening we were on the beach, and 2 SPOONBILL(236) flew east.

That night(well the next morning at 1am) we were shipped out back to Britain on a rescue flight, we were stuck in turkey for an extra 5 day's but with great weather, great birds and everything free, who's complaining..........

And when we got back to britain it was raining HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

MB