19 July 2020: Lammergeier - Peak District

Reports of a second calendar-year Lammergeier in the UK sounded fun - it was the bird previously reported in Belgium, so had seemingly crossed the English Channel on its own, which has to be a good sign. The bird had then toured round before finding an area of the Peak District to its liking. 

Doug had set out the day before and spent much of the Saturday scanning the hilltops with little or no reward - he stayed overnight in the hope of better views in the better Sunday weather... John and I took the more leisurely approach and didn't get in the area until shortly after nine thirty in the morning. A quick call to Doug to say that we were only four minutes away led to the inevitable banter about, "Mr Golden Bollocks arriving so the bird would now surely show." Sure enough, even before we all met up, we stopped by the side of the road and shortly afterwards were rewarded for our laziness by the appearance of the immature Lammergeier. 

Probably from the reintriduction programme in teh Alps - using Spanish birds - or wild Spanish birds from the Pyrenees? We may never know for sure, but what a sight it was!!