The week that was

Having returned from Scotland on Monday I made the relatively short trip to Lidlington in Bedfordshire where the recent press given to the "last Lady Amherst's Pheasant" had finally caught my imagination and although the prospect of seeing/ticking this introduced species as it finally meets it's final frontier didn't fill me with delight I found myself caught up in the hype and after a more interesting visit to the Lodge in Sandy where I located firstly three Lesser Redpoll and then a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker before hearing a day calling Tawny Owl I made the short trip across to Lidlington where I parked outside the pub and walked down the hill turning right to walk up to the churchyard (opposite the church) The message online said turn right at the rear of the church yard then 200 yards what it didn't say was it was a bit of a climb to the viewing area. I arrived with several birders present and joined the silent stand staring at the feeder that the land owners have erected in an effort to get people to view from a specific spot and cause less disturbance to the site. (For the record the security guards on site say that there are at least two birds)
We watched intently and eventually had the briefest of glimpses as the bird walked across the top of the ridge revealing just a head and tail feather. (Some got on it some to their frustration didn't)  I couldn't help think that the whole thing had been a little bit disappointing, the atmosphere wasn't great and the bird didn't show that well either. If all twitches went this way you wouldn't bother with them at all.

Osprey at Eversholt Lake

Buzzard

Buzzard

Buzzard

So with the tick in the bag so to speak I returned down the M1 and through myself into work with early mornings and late nights my penalty for taking a long weekend until today when I strangely decided I'd run the Jims back to Lidlington so they too could "enjoy" the bird.
Three hours of nothing followed with just light relief from first a fly over House Martin then a calling Willow Warbler and then a Redstart in the fields by the churchyard on our way out. My companions then wanted to visit Eversholt as Lesser Spotted Woodpecker had been reported there so we headed that way only to find an Osprey sitting in a tree there. We enjoyed watching the Osprey (Had a metal ring on the left left and blue ring on the right if that means anything to somebody?) and had a nice display from both Buzzard and Red Kite as we walked back to the car. No sign of Lesser Spot though and a possible Ouzel went missing on me so remained just possible.

Year list now 190 Life list now 356