I'm back...

After a two month hiatus, it is good to be back on the patch. There have been some changes, not exactly a fall of hoopoes but a change of seasons as some of the non-breeding northerners depart and a few new species creep in.

First, what did I miss? Malayan night heron on the patch was gripping and would have been a life bird but was not well twitched. Perhaps more gripping was a blue-winged pitta seen by my girlfriend and her family. And photographed. Poorly. But all the same.

But of the changes, blue-tailed bee eater has been replaced by blue-throated. Arctic warbler in song was a new one to learn. And a few other odds and sods moves the total onto 81...just reaching 90%. It is getting difficult to see where the next ten are going to come from, but that's half the fun.