Just after I got home from some early shopping this morning I saw that I'd received a text from Kat Everitt telling me there was a Hoopoe showing at a fishery just south of Woodford Halse in Northamptonshire.
Although I'd seen one some years ago at Clayhanger Marsh it had been too far off for decent pics so I thought I must go for this one if it was still there.Studied the map to decide on the best route and grabbed my gear but when I checked with Kat to see if it was there I was told "No sign".
As I had got ready to go out I thought I'd better go out somewhere so I headed off to Shustoke reservoir.Just as I arrived in the car park I got another text from Kat telling me it had just flown in.Dam and Blast !!!! I'd contrived to drive 15 miles further away from it and had left the map at home.Wonderful !!!
Undaunted off I set trying to remember how to get there which is a dangerous game for me these days as my memory is pretty crap.I did well most of the way but when I got to Byfield on the A361 the road I had to take was closed and I was sent on a massive diversion route that abandoned me in the Northants countryside.After a lot of heavy duty swearing I stumbled on the the fishery but only thanks to some very poorly parked cars in a narrow country lane.
Some bad news awaited me when I joined about a dozen birders.It had been spooked more than an hour ago by the fishery owners dog that got very close to it and it had not been seen since.More swearing ensued.
I stuck it out for a couple of hours but there was no sign by 2.00 PM so I left.Dipped on my first twitch for years and had managed to drive over a 100 miles and did not even switch the camera on.Feeling very sad now and I can feel tears forming in my eyes but that may be caused by seeing the excellent shots taken yesterday.
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