A twitch in time.........

Autumn is the time for migrants and therefore a time when a birder is edgy.  There might be something turning up at any minute!!  Birds are flying south and they often stop off in the UK to eat and catch up with their mates.  (Well o.k., I added that last bit for sake of a story).  Rare Bird Alert is checked hourly in case of that mega-rarity.  

This has been a glorious autumn for colours and so I have been happy to accompany said Birder to the Kent countryside and beyond. 

We were at Oare Marshes in Kent, and were looking for a long-billed Dowitcher apparently.  It didn't show - we "dipped" it.  That's the way you describe missing the bird, by the way.  We did see a lovely water rail which was "showing well". 

A couple of weeks later we were going to Suffolk to visit some friends.  Rare Bird alert said there Cliff Swallow at RSPB Minsmere.  So at 3pm we drive into Minsmere.  The light is fading and the passenger is edgy and nervous.  There are a group of about 30 people (mostly men I have to say) and they are looking through telescopes and binoculars.  "They've got the bird!" shouts my companion.  I told him to just get out and run.  I parked the car and was more interested in finding the loo, quite frankly.  

The Cliff Swallow was seen and my friend was in "high spirits" which we added to later, with lots of wine.  It flew over my head, but I didn't see it. Oh, well, I can live with that. 

Apparently Joe "had" four waxwings over Greenwich Park recently.  There are hundreds elsewhere in the country and that is a bird I would to see!

Water rail, if you look carefully.

Waxwing - courtesy of the BBC