Mid morn and I,m happily laid under a car ,spanner in hand, when a grapevine text comes through.
Grey Plover, Fly Flatts, AT, JM. Oh no, and me with no release until 1500 hrs.Clear weather meant the bird had a good chance of leaving though the strong wind may keep it down. At least it was on the east bank with no disturbance other than the local Peregrine.
A second text at midday confirming that the bird was still there, Df, gave me some hope and by 1445 hrs I was burning rubber towards Fly Flatts.
On arrival the sky was very dark putting the whole area into silhouette which does,nt help when you,re looking for a black and white bird with a W>7 near gale at 32 mph.
On the NW end of the west bank it was hard to stand and near impossible to scope and two good scans found nothing other than 5 Teal and a few BH gulls. Once again the heavens opened giving me a good blast of horizontal rain which did,nt help the situation .
Back at the centre of the west bank I lowered the tripod down and knelt on the banking trying to keep the scope steady and was about to give up when 2 Redshank appeared from the hidden ponds along with a Common Sandpiper and 2 Dunlin when suddenly
Geronimo ! out a nowhere the Grey Plover appeared nearby on the mud.
What a cracking bird, still in summer breeding plumage although getting photos was another matter. A black and white bird against a black background with no light and out of camera range with the camera wafting about in the wind but Big Bertha 2 did her best and came up with a few record shots, 183 to be exact, but very few even worth blogging but at least they give you an idea of the bird.
Well spotted to JM, AT, for finding the bird, DF for relocating it and VJ for braving the elements this evening up there and reporting it still present at 1736 hrs. Whats next ????
BS