Bonus

Having ticked in the morning I returned to the platform yesterday afternoon with dodgy lens in an attempt to get a record shot of which these two were the best. (Frank G has posted a far superior shot on Birdguides and better still Allan on his blog). With all gatherings of birders it's surprising what else is turned up and despite not having found either Greenshank or Tree Pipit that had called in the morning whilst straining our eyes to see the Woodchat Shrike in the far distance ADMc called Egret and there, flying west about 100 foot up was the bird. My heart jumped as I've been waiting for a Little Egret on patch for the last few years but my view and the general consensus was that it was a Great White (already patch ticked!).

Then this morning I returned to see if the Shrike had remained. With clear sunny skies ideal for night or early morning travel and navigation I wasn't surprised to find the bird had gone but some serious scanning of the hedgerow found a greyish warbler with eye stripe slightly smaller than the Whitethroat it was next to and clearly the Lesser variety. Would you credit it. After months of inaction four year ticks in two days.