The Lyons Share

Thanks to Dorian Mason for this photo. This was the exact but very brief view I had of the Climping Hoopoe yesterday morning. It's the first twitch I have been on for 18 months (last one was White-throated Sparrow) and as a result my first British tick in the same time period. Yes, Hoopoe was a bit of a bogey bird for me until yesterday. In fact, I have dipped on no less than four Hoopoes around the country over the last twenty years so I did not really have my hopes up. Saw the little bugger anyway, even if it was quite a brief view. Having seen many abroad I let Jo get a good look at it, I think she found her first twitching experience very odd but she liked the bird.

There were a few other nice birds around including two Little Egrets, an adult Mediterranean Gull (my favourite bird) and four Yellow Wagtails. I wonder if this heralds the return of more twitching? Bring it on! You can see more of Dorian Mason's excellent photography at his website.