Arriving at 4.15, there was not an awful lot of daylight left and I wasted the next 45 mins searching the Northern part of Railway Pit for the Red-necked Grebe which had been present for a few weeks but (I was told by a local birder) it doesn't tend to show on windy days! It was a windy day......
I did see a couple of Little Egrets fly in though, hopes of their much bigger cousin were all I now had to aim for! A subsequent cruise around the local roads checking ditches was at least noteworthy for a Hare or two - well within camera range!
Hares normally do a bunk whenever I've pointed a camera at them - eventually the penny dropped!
Eventually with light fading it was either a 'fly in to the roost' or double dip? I staked out a lay by the Southern end of Railway Pit with a couple of local birders (ominously - their fourth attempt).
At 6.33 precisely (I was meant to leave by 6.30 at the latest) and as I was packing everything away, I got the "it's flying in" call! A quick scope, Great White Egret joining two Little uns in trees at the far end! Not a chance of a pic now, even if I had time (added to the fact it was 600m away!) but it was job done. Thoughts now turned to putting my foot down and 'Spring Treasures at Kew' at Keyworth garden club.....
