Went over to LHF yesterday and did our usual drive along the drove by the reserve (we have two dogs so can't get onto the reserve itself) and as we crawled along we spotted a blue thing in one of the bushes. A quick look through the bins showed it to be a blue form of Ring-necked Parakeet.... I think it was a female...
I'll try to get a photo uploaded in a while....
Escapee pet or are we seeing the advanced guard of the troops moving up from Southern areas?
The rest of the trip was full of the usual fantastic sights - beautiful female Marsh Harrier, the cranes (only 2 today) poking around on the newly spread meadows along with umpteen pigeons, a flock of Fieldfare and later in the afternoon a barn owl showing off it's hovering capabilities hunting along the bank top a mere 50m away while another hunted along the banks of the field boundary near the drove.
Edit to insert image.... hopefully.....
It's not a very cold Great Grey Shrike is it ? :-)
Suffering from a rotten cold - hence the swollen red nose....... :o)
Wow! I have never seen a ring necked parakeet that looks this blue! This is only a second record of this species on the reserve so well spotted! Is there any chance you could e-mail this picture over to us at lakenheath@rspb.org.uk;?
You could even enter it to our Stepping Up For Nature photography competition under the category of "Something completely different". This definitely qualifies! We hope to see you at the reserve again soon.
A chat room buddy in OZ sent me this pic this morning showing a free flyer that took a shine to his family for a while, it looks like the Pastel Blue mutation seen at the reserve.