Back in 1999 a light morph Booted Eagle toured England, Scotland and Wales but was rejected due to the time of year it arrived, feather wear, their inability to cross water and length of stay. Fast forward to this year and a dark morph bird was found in Cornwall with the now annual Red Kite movement but was only seen briefly.
Then last month whilst I was on Scilly a pale morph bird was found in the Lands End area and seen by a few lucky birders over a couple of days. We gave it a couple of hours once we’d arrived back in Cornwall but had no luck.
Then at the start of November a dark morph bird was seen briefly in Oxfordshire of all places and then amazingly re found the next day in Berkshire. Those who were able to get there early enough on Saturday morning were rewarded with a couple of showings before it disappeared over Henley-on-Thames.
Sunday morning I joined the throng in the hope of it returning but like the previous Sunday despite a few hours on site there was no sign of it. But here’s hoping it’ll stick around the local area or even better head to Herts and show itself.
This unassuming site was very birdy with 100+ Red Kite, 20+ Buzzard, 50+ Skylark, 60+ Fieldfare, 80+ Redwing and singles of Egyptian Goose, Bullfinch, Snipe and Curlew.
2 dips in a week isn’t something I’ve been used to in recent years so let’s hope that’s the end of my run of bad luck!
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