Kington is one of the highest golf courses in the country on the english/welsh border. I was playing there on friday and saw a wader on a hole appropriately named hilltop! I'm pretty sure it was either a dotterel or golden plover, both of which have been seen in the area in the past.
From the distance we saw it from it looked fairly uniformly pale brown. It sort of scurried for about ten metres then stopped and stood very upright for a few seconds before scurrying off again. When stood upright it looked just like the juvenile dotterel in the RSPB handbook but would there be juvenile ones around at the moment?
cheers
Stoat
Very rare indeed is the answer to that one. There was a long-staying one on Scilly in 2004 - it was not a well bird and sadly died after a few weeks. The last one on the mainland was in Essex in 1984. Fourteen accepted records in total since 1900. The nearest breeding grounds are in north Africa, so it's very lost!
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Hi- I just keep reading this thread as Klingon Golf course- didn't know they played
:)
S
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seymouraves said: Hi- I just keep reading this thread as Klingon Golf course- didn't know they played :) S
I'd heard that they use modified bat'leths as clubs.... Should be handy for carving their way through hordes of twitchers to reach the fairways anyway......
Every day a little more irate about bird of prey persecution, and I have a cat - Got a problem with that?
I thought it was 44 records in total?
Still, mighty disappointed I can't get down for a few weeks! I may see you then of it's still around...
Unknown said: I thought it was 44 records in total? Still, mighty disappointed I can't get down for a few weeks! I may see you then of it's still around...
This is what Birdguides says (if I've counted correctly) - 37 accepted records involving 39 birds (1949 record was of three birds together). Since 1900, 15 records (including this one), involving 17 birds.
Another 11 records of 14 birds have now been rejected - they include three 'Hastings rarities' records :)
WOW Stoat. Lucky you to have come across this fabulous bird. Last one I saw was in Morocco some years ago - in fact that's the only one I've seen.
There are already some stunning images on Birdguides.
www.birdguides.com/.../species.asp
I expect the twitchers are already there in force.
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Tony
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Looks like there are a few people up there!
Should I be mentioning it to the county recorder? Don't want to claim it as 'my bird' so to speak as I hadn't got a clue what it was but would it add anything to the records if I suggest it may have been there a day or two earlier than when it was first identified?
Cheers
I'm not bald. I've just got ingrowing hair!
It was first reported to RBA and Birdguides at about 10.50pm on the 20th. As you saw it the day before there's a fair chance you were the first one to notice it, so it's worth mentioning it to the county recorder, I'd have thought. You could point them to this thread, as it has your description of the bird before you knew what it was - ie definitely not influenced by any expectations.
Tis done - thanks again Aiki
In retrospect your description fits a Cream-coloured Courser very well.
If it hadn't been seen, and identified, by someone else, I wonder what people would have thought if you saw a picture of a Cream-coloured Courser at some point in the future and perhaps decided that that was definitely what you saw!
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