Sunday 2nd November 2014

   Well after all the excitement of yesterday, back to local birding today. So as i missed it before, went for the Pallid Harrier again at Steart WWT.

   Had kept an eye on its movements a bit this week, but it was just ranging far and wide....so pot luck really. Steart Gate seemed like a good place to try for a while, as its sort of in the middle of the reserve, and you can watch a wide area.

   Well we watched for quite a while, while watching a big flock of waders flying around on the far side, we noticed 2 bigger birds, and they were Short-eared Owls....nice, then there was another bird with them.....the Harrier, brilliant, but long way off and into the sun. After about 5 minutes, it landed out of view, and so did the Owls....

   I picked it up again about 15 minutes later, but it was now over the far side of the river too, so further away again. Then it was gone.....NO PHOTOS!!!!

  Well, a Hoopoe at Dunster Beach, might be better bet. So, we drove there.

  First person i bumped into was James Packer, he said he had seen the Hoopoe, but it was really elusive, and had no pix.......but he had got full frame shots of the Harrier earlier, don't you hate it when that happens??? James has some really good shots on his site the Somerset Birder.

   Oh well, lucky git, i better try and get some Hoopoe shots instead then. So, after a chat about the 7d MkII, which he was getting, tomorrow, he was off. I then went in search of the Hoopoe. Found it after about half an hour, but it was elusive......then when most of the other people gave up, i managed to get fairly close, as i was on my own. Hope you like them, cracking bird aren't they??

Hoopoe

Hoopoe