It was at 10pm when the pager went off in the house - the house in which everyone else was trying to go to bed... Muting the alarm, I read the message... MEGA: BLACK-WINGED KITE at the Stubb Mill raptor viewpoint at Hickling Broad NWT reserve, 7:30-8:45pm. Allegedly photographed, but not photographs on social media.
Decision time - hoax or go now?
By 10:20pm I was off and negotiating the multitude of road closures en route: by 1:45am I was making a bed in the back seats of the truck. The arrival of so many cars in the car park had me awake by 4:15am - I might as well get up then...
After walking to the Stubb Mill raptor viewpoint, the general consensus was that this could well be a hoax- no one really knew. I wondered off for a bit to see the Cranes and a few other bits - and at the furthest point on my walk, I scanned back to see the birders at the raptor viewpoint running around - I checked the app. The Black-winged Kite was on show!
A casual sprint...back and seconds later I was enjoying distant views of this vagrant to UK shores! Thanks to Mark Thomas for the digiscope help!
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| Very distant Black-winged Kite! |
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| Reed Warbler |
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| Ruddy Darter |
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| Common Cranes |
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| Purple Hairstreak (male) |
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