White-throated Robin backlit amongst the poppy spread early morning.
Still trying to catch up on sleep since returning from Hartlepool, but it was worth it. My Dad joined me at my house on wednesday night at 10pm, I had gotten home from work at 7pm and got my kit together ready, and so at 10:20pm we headed off for Hartlepool. We arrived at 02:45am after a lengthy detour off the A19, I set about getting some rest before sunrise but unfortunately my Dads fidgetting and moaning put a stop to any zzzz'. Next time he can walk around outside the car!
I wanted to try and connect with the bird early on as I had to get back to go into work that night. And as a car load of blokes turned up whilst getting kitted out we got in place to await the 'Robin'. Well, as my luck usually goes, I missed the bird when it first showed! Thankfully one of the blokes from Ipswich came and informed my dad and I, at least it was still here... all eyes wide open now. But as I repositioned myself on the other side of the bowling green, sure enough a few people got good views and photographs .... you guessed it exactly where I had been standing a short while ago, but at least I had now seen the bird and could relax a tad.
Over the next couple of hours the bird was to give close views around the inner bowling green, I just had to wait till it ventured into a shadow to give some detail rather than just a silhoulette with the harsh sun backlighting it so much. It was actively feeding and would sometimes venture through the fence onto the road adjoining. When it moved off it disappeared for some time before showing well to the back of the other bowling green along the front. What a great bird to get and on viewing some images the plumage appeared to have quite a lot of blue tones to it. It then flew behind the bowling green building and I decided the time was right to leave, it was going to be a long drive home and the thought of a 12hr shift looming was not a welcoming thought but I didnt care I was WELL HAPPY.
