A nice find for Geoff Hall - three Snow Buntings at the Long Mynd on the 20th and luckily they were still showing well today despite every passing bike and car flushing them! As time went on, they became more mobile (well they just had to be feeding on the verge!!)
Do you come here often?
Shades of the Black-winged Stilt! Another mega for the county and my luck goes awol but I offer no excuses - I went, I saw, I ticked a Pallid Harrier on the Long Mynd. That ought to mean 'success' for this post...
Two relatively close passes on my 'second encounter' resulting in 'images'! Spoilt by heat haze and distance!
Never mind, I could have come away with nothing quite easily. Thank goodness John Martin had the sense to go walking and drop on the Harrier where I stayed still. Well done John, Cracking image!
A great find by Mike Stokes, a male Dotterel on the 'Mynd a little earlier than the traditional 1st May! And everything conspired for me almost not to see it!
First off off was getting stuck in the 'Bike for Life' argie bargie and the traffic was completely jammed near the Park & Ride for at least 20 mins... The I arrived only for Mike and Damo (who were driving off) to tell me it had been pushed out of view :-(
Cue a team up with Dave Chapman and Rob Dowley and after 30 mins or so of searching, we were on it :-)
Not the most pristine of Dots (where's a female when you need one!) but better than nowt!
April is prime time on the Long Mynd for Emperor Moths and it would have been disrespectful not to find some?
Almost to the day, in glorious sunshine a trip to Wildmoor Pool with Dave Chapman was in the offing and with Emperor moths being reported everywhere, hopes were high...
First off were some obliging local birds starting with Meadow Pipit...
And yes, Emperor Moths came to the part, all these were taken in flight so unlike the 2018 visit, all four eyes were visible!
Rob Stokes came up with the ID - Water Carpet now that what I call a start to the moth season and it's an honorary Day Flier added to the list!...
I always try to get to every scarce bird in Shropshire, some are easy... some are difficult! The prospect of climbing to the summit of Black Knoll in near freezing conditions for a Snow Bunting didn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm (I must have taken a few thousand images over the years!) but this is Shropshire and not an everyday bird! To give credit where due the bird was found by insect guru Nigel Jones earlier in the week, a refreshing change from Diptera!
I'd just parked up at 'Base Camp' at the Southern end of the Long Mynd and whilst getting my gear ready noticed a familiar car approaching... it was Rob Stokes! Been a while but we teamed up and kept each other going!
We were nearly at the summit and at roughly the same spot John Martin connected the previous day, and split up to check the nearby paths. 30 seconds later "I've got it Jim" came the call. Yep, he certainly had and it wasn't long before a half used card was full (here's the highlights)
Shropshire Snow Bunting No. 3 for me. The cold was soon forgotten as we made our way back to the cars!
