Stumbled out to the office in the dark this morning to do a tiny bit of work pre-birding and was almost instantly rewarded by a flyover calling brambling for the year - result!
Headed out around 9 am with the intention of just doing a reasonably quick hoof round the likely spots on Galley. Bumped into Old Spoons at Shite Lane and we headed off to do Dirk - 6 more flyover brambling and killer views of at least 4 firecrests. A tour of the fields next, and, since it seemed quiet, a quick cup of tea chez spoons before hitting more fields, Marsh Lane & then home.
As I walked in my gate at lunchtime Spoons rang - "Little bunting above shite lane" - straight back out but no luck. Nipped home for food and got a lift back to Shite Lane just in time to hear one of the strangest calls I've ever heard - like a hyper curlew "Cloo-eeeet Clooo-eeeeet" - what the hell was that? 5 mins later, Spoons texted the answer - "flyover American Golden Plover!" I checked Xeno-Canto - Bingo, a perfect match for what I'd heard! Another full fat Galley tick - shame not to see it, but great to finally hear one - won't forget that one!
The rest of the afternoon was spent traipsing about hoping to bump into Spoon's Little bunting, but it was not be. Did bag Fieldfare for the year though, so all was not lost. A long tiring day of hoofing about, but was just not the day for sitting about at home!
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