Stella thought we were all staring at her so generously gave good views right between the Eagle and our lensesIan and I started early at Canons this morning, in the hope of Waxwings, but very little was seen. At 9.00am, as roughly planned, we decided to head to Old Basing for a bird that I had dipped three times previously. Almost as soon as we pulled up outside Poors Farm we were onto the juvenile White-tailed Eagle, I thought I was dreaming at first, after missing it so many times, especially when it took off and gave us a flight demo with about four Common Buzzards in tow. Thanks Ian!
White-tailed Eagle with Common Buzzard for size comparisonWe watched the bird for nearly an hour (though it seemed like much shorter) before programming Richmond Park into the satnav, having received a text from Johnny Allan about the Coues's Arctic Redpoll's continued presence. We joined the loose crowd at the Pen Ponds plantation shortly after midday and I staked it out till after 5.00pm, getting a lift back with Kojak. We saw up to ten Lesser Redpolls and a slightly larger and paler bird flying with two of these at one point, it wasn't the Arctic, it may have been a Mealy but we couldn't say for sure.
A small finch then flew over our heads, several people saw it but only I and one or two others heard it. I described the call to those who didn't as 'a bit like a Crossbill', a 'chip-chip', as it was the closest thing I could think of at the top of my head. Looking at BWP, it says for Arctic Redpoll 'Flight-call more spaced out than in Redpoll, written 'chut-chut'. Was it . . . ? Probably not but it's possible. Regardless of whether it's seen tomorrow morning or not I think I'll pop up after an early morning check of Canons.
