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Wag-tales

James and I set off mid morning for the Ouse Washes reserve in Cambridgeshire, hoping to see the drake Blue-winged Teal which has been present for long enough.
Twitching, on this blog? Hold on.......
Great reserve, similar to Welney just up the road. Good views of Yellow Wagtail, Little Egret, Little-ringed Plover and Lapwing on the lagoons. Pride of place probably went to a lone Greenshank. As you may have guessed, no sign of the Teal. A Grasshopper Warbler was reeling somewhere out of sight, and I had a Turtle Dove blaze past.
On route to the Ouse, James received a text from Gary alerting us to a Citrine Wagtail at East Runton. Bugger, we thought. We had spent so much time looking for the Teal, any chance of the Wagtail had surely gone.
I got home and got on with some marking. My friend Rob called. I marked one book.
45 Minutes later I was looking at a pristine male Citrine Wagtail. The bird showed down to 15 metres and with a head like that, will be unforgettable I'm sure. Most birds I have seen photos of have been Autumn migrants, so to see a real live spring bird was a treat. I would add some pictures, but the camera says "card read error".
Not finished with my day, I headed to the patch after dinner. Two twitches in a day and I was in need of a cleanse. Surlingham always does the job. The 2 Little-ringed Plover were still in place on the edge of the lagoon, and were aggressively defending their new territory from.....a Yellow Wagtail! Get in!
Marsh Harrier and more distantly a Buzzard hunted over the marsh, and a Gropper reeled me back to the car.

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