Wednesday 18 June 2014

Carlton Colville - Rose-coloured Starling

I had a talk booked just South of Norwich this evening so thought it would be sensible to be not too far away and Suffolk offered the best solution. There just happened to be a cracking male Rose-coloured Starling settled at Carlton Colville, (just outside Lowestoft) and that's where I headed after breakfast!

I'm not a fan of urban twitching but sometimes where Rosy Starlings (and Waxwings) are concerned, it's gotta be done! Setting the scene.....



It took over 30 minutes to actually show for the first time and despite the timber and roof tile laden habitat, I had to settle for that initially.....


 Despite the lack of sunshine - a real stunner!




Yessssss, an obliging ruffle!


It then tended to feed in the back garden of the corner house where it was initially found. Out of sight for most of the time, it would perch up in one of the shrubs whilst coming and going....






Whichever way you looked at him - the bill and pink/black contrasting plumage works a treat!


Here's looking at you.....


A brief foray on the roadside verge for ???


Ants!! He'll have to eat a lot of them!!


Then chilling in a roadside conifer.....




This was the closest encounter, landing less than 10m away on the roadside!


My favourite portraits were on the roadside verge, cropped to remove annoying grass, he makes a real picture!




By mid afternoon, I'd had enough and I was working that evening of course! Time to socialise with my hosts.....