On Friday I went down to Rutland Water with my nephew, Luke, to visit this year's
British Bird Fair. I like to go along every year to look around all the different trade stands, spot a few celebrities, buy a new book (or two) and get a few "year ticks".
The day started at the
BTO's Ringing Demo. The weather conditions were perfect, and the nets were full, including a smart looking
Marsh Tit. This was the first I've seen "in the hand", and was a very nice year tick too. Whilst there, Luke also got the chance to release a
Blackcap and a couple of
Great Tits.
After the ringing, we walked around the stands, where I bought a new moth book, helped the BTO celebrate 75 years of the
Nest Record Scheme, by eating a slice of their birthday cake, and then went along to a moth talk featuring a celebrity,
Richard Lewington, the illustrator of many superb wildlife books, most of which I've bought (see
here for details of the books he's illustrated). The talk was great, and included a few new moths (
Canary-shouldered Thorn,
Swallow Prominent and
Lesser Swallow Prominent), but the highlight for Luke was a very photogenic
Elephant Hawkmoth (his first), which posed very nicely for him.
Luke and an Elephant Hawkmoth
The final part of the day was a visit to the
Osprey Project to see.... the
Ospreys. We walked along to the Wader Scrape hide and saw the Manton Bay Pair, who were sitting on the perch next to the nest. Unfortunately, this pair hasn't managed to raise any chicks this year, but a total of 11 chicks have been born around the reservoirs. Whilst here, we also spotted a couple of
Little Egrets, a few
Common Terns, 2
Egyptian Geese and 4
Common Sandpipers.
Year List Update:
167 – Marsh Tit
168 – Osprey
169 – Egyptian Goose
