New bird for the list in the UK!
Another quick turnaround in the UK before we head off to our last country for 2008 but inbetween the washing and repacking we just had time to head out to look for a UK bird that has eluded us so far given our limited birding time in the UK. We went to an area of mixed woodland at Bodelwyddan Castle not far from our home in North Wales and started walking through the woods. Bad weather was forecast but first thing conditions were good and we quickly started picking up traditional British woodland birds: Great Spotted Woodpecker, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Jay, Goldcrest and a mixed flock of Long-tailed, Great, Blue and Coal Tits, but one bird still was missing from our list. Bodelwyddan has been a pretty reliable site for this bird in the past, but a new hide has recently been built and we weren’t sure whether our target bird might have moved on to avoid the disturbance. We reached the end of the trail; there was the brand spanking new hide, and good news! Feeders hanging in the trees right in front of the hide and full of bird seed too, this looked promising! We crept into the hide and settled down to wait but not for long. A Coal Tit flew in, grabbed a seed and flew on again, but right behind it was our target bird, Marsh Tit! It too grabbed a seed and flew back to some branches right beside the hide, and as if a close-up look at this dapper little bird wasn’t enough, a second bird flew in beside it, showing off right in front of us. Phew, a relief to finally have Marsh Tit safely on the list.
It’s back to the airport for us tomorrow as we fly out to southern Ecuador to meet up with Nick Athanas from Tropical Birding to finish the year with a flurry of new birds.Bird species list: 4227
Posted 20th December, Llandudno, UKThe Biggest Twitch website will remain online in 2009 to keep you up to date with our birding adventures and let you know how we settle back into normal life, if we do!! We will also share more of our adventures and lots of photos from The Biggest Twitch.