Birthday Bird

Today was my birthday and for the first time ever I got a birthday bird in the form of a Red-flanked Bluetail.

Yesterday, when I saw the bird appear on Twitter and I saw where it was, I told my birder's wife where I wanted to go as my birthday treat.  So, this morning we ventured forth to deepest south Gloster.  After an uneventful drive (besides a stonechip almost coming through the windscreen) we arrived two miles north of Marshfield at a gorgeous spot - The bird had certainly chosen a very impressive place to hang out. After donning our foot attire, we followed in the steps of Mr Lee Evans who had arrived a couple of moments earlier and after a 10 minutes walk joined the masses of admirers.  The bird was very active and was hard to pin down for a record shot - however I managed the below.  I then managed to obtain some fantastic views of the bird through my bins - a truly spectacular lifer for me.

Red-flanked Bluetail

After looking at the bird for 30 minutes we decided to head back to the car for a cup of coffee and decisions as to what to do for the rest of the day.  Dyrham Hall NT was close by but unfortunately closed, so we opted to make our way home via Aust Warth for lunch.

The high tides in Aust Warth had left a lot of debris on which Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings were feeding.  Despite many scans, I could not locate any of the Short Eared Owl hiding out in the long grass.

Reed Bunting