Upton Warren is a place I've been aware of since 1983 when Bill Oddie mentioned it as his local patch in his "Little Black Bird Book", yet remarkably perhaps despite birding all over the country during the following nearly 40 years, this was my first ever visit to the place.
I was working just seven miles away and virtually had to drive past it on my way to the motorway so when news broke that there was a 1st winter Bonaparte's gull on the reserve it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. Thankfully the bird showed immediately and well as it hawked around the lake very like a little gull. This was my 8th Bonaparte's gull in the UK and my 6th in the past eight years, but only my second 1st winter bird. My first ever encounter with the species was a 1st winter bird in Cardiff almost 25 years ago to the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment