Friday 9 October 2009

Loony vismiggin'!

This isn't what you usually expect to see vismigging in the middle of Bedfordshire! This Diver, which I'm pretty sure is a Black-throated, flew over a few minutes before I was about to leave for work.

I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at when I first picked it up as a dot off to the north-east. As it got closer I thought 'grebe?' but after a few seconds more it was quite plainly a diver! It's not often to have to identify divers from underneath, so I couldn't put a name to it initially. It was only after viewing this on a TV at home this evening I could piece together what I saw:
* Smalli-ish Diver, not as bulky as a GND
* Slim neck with obviously sticky-out and bulbus head
* Obvious feet and legs sticking out the back
* Quick-ish flight
* Not startlingly white, like Red-throat

In addition to the Diver I also had three probable Woodlarks fly over, but were just a bit too far away to confidently identify. Anyway, the rest of the session was fairly productive too...

07:00-08:30
Most movement was north this morning, quite different to the usual south
and south-west. In order of appearance:

Meadow Pipit - 23
Chaffinch - 74
Dunnock - 2
Redwing - 26
Goldfinch - 7
Yellowhammer - 5
Pied Wag - 10
House Martin - 4
Sparrowhawk - 2
Blackbird - 3
Song Thrush - 6
Starling - 2
Linnet - 7
Skylark - 4
Poss Woodlark - 3
Bullfinch - 1
Reed Bunting - 4
Diver sp. - 1

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