with Lapwing and European Golden Pover (top bird)
Deeping High Bank © Mike Weedon
Today started pretty miserably. After last nights high of finding a first for the Peterborough area (and c.5th record for Cambs, not sure about Hunts), a juvvy American Golden Plover (and first juv seen in Cambs), there was no sign of it this morning for myself and the hardy soles helping me search the fen. Second only to finding a good bird is getting other folk to see it, so I always find it gutting when you end up as a a dreaded lone observer on such goodies.
With still no further sign of the AGP over lunch when I did a quick tour of my immediate fields, I headed up to Deeping St Nicholas for a meeting at Vine House Farm. Early on in the meeting my phone vibrated. Looking at the caller, Bowell the younger, I took the call hoping that Will had re-located the AGP having taken the day off cos it was his birthday. By the sound of it, Will had re-found it, but it was now near Crowland Water Tower along the Deeping High Bank, c.8 miles north of Peterborough (Farcet Fen is c.5miles SSW of Pboro). On leaving my meeting at 5pm I found a text from Mark Hawkes saying the Deeping bird was an adult! I was only a few minutes from Crowland Water Tower and was soon with Will, Mark and Trevor Williams looking at a moulting adult AGP (above pic - stolen from Mikey Wee as I didn't manage to get a shot of the juv last night in the semi-dark).
My attempt to depict last nights AGP here on Farcet Fen!
Now what chance is that? Two AGPs within 15 miles of each other in our area on consective days? (well stranger things have happened in Lincs, such as Tetney hosting both AGP and Pacific GP at the same time in the '80s).
So, having gone from elation last night to deflation this morning, it was elation thinking my bird had been refound, but deflation to find it hadn't and back to elation again that another had!
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