***MEGA***MEGA***MEGA***

BLACK WINGED PRATINCOLE

STODMARSH.KENT

Luckily for me the Black winged pratincole had stayed around all week, and so on the morning of Mon' 18th I headed off very early to try and connect. On arrival there was just one other bloke in the hide and as of yet he had not seen the bird. Half an hour passed and still nothing other than a drake Garganey and male Marsh harrier and plenty of vocals and sightings of Cuckoo,Cetti's,Reed and Sedge warbler. There were good numbers of swifts feeding and luckily the weather was holding out.

Whilst scanning I saw something scurry along the ground and there it was, the bloke next to me got onto it and we were to have good views of it scurrying about on a small mud bank. I had a couple of views through the blokes scope and what a beauty it was, the head markings were stunning, the back and cap were a darkish olive and clean white on the belly, the black tail and wings made it look long and sleek when it gave us a side profile. It then decided that the wind was a bit too keen for it and so it hid up behind a clump of what looked like dock leaves and here it stayed for most of the time.

A few people came and went and it would on occasions scurry out from behind the weed clump only for it to turn around and hide back up again, even when a family group of Greylags came close by it still did not move until one of the adult geese was literally standing on it and then it only airlifted for a second and dropped back to its same hide up. When it did eventually move out after some hours of intermittent views it took flight a short distance giving everyone in the hide views of the dark wings, it was still distant for photographing but I was more than happy with a few record shots and good views of a new species for me, and after no images from the last two new and rare additions I was not gonna complain. It was time to head home.