After a few days of being ill I was contemplating an early night when a message from Dan Pointon came through, simply reading 'Amur facon at PG'. Queue the ususal short period of denial, inconvenience, Whatsapp messages and general indecision which was thankfully ended by a call from Mark Sutton. By 10.30 I was at Mark's and then on to meet Sean Cole just off the M5. The three of us then set off on the long drive to Land's End in Sean's car, with the 4th space taken by his ageing Border Collie Poppy. The overnight drive was uneventful but in good company and confidence was high as the bird had remained in the area until dusk. By 04.45 on 7th July we were on site as an impressive red dawn lit the Cornish countryside. The ususal faces were there and everyone scanned the area from a vantage point where the bird was last seen yesterday. A little before six, local birder Paul Freestone located the bird perched in a bush - just a few feet from our parked cars. And there it stayed, a glorious bird which looked even better as the sun rose. Great to watch, and to put to bed the 2008 Tophill Low debacle. Amur falcon sized-gap now very much filled-in!! I was suprised just how distinctive the bird was, lacking any of the buff tones to the underparts or head that female red-foots show. This bird, a first summer female, was more reminiscent of a hobby. We watched the it until about 8.15, in which time it did very little aside from cough up some pellets, snooze and look around. We then departed at 8.30, so didnt see the bird finally leave it's roost at 09.30. It apparently reappeared briefly shortly after 11am and was watched to disappear high to the north, much to the distress of thise who chose to wait on news. The journey home was chaotic on the traffic front, and despite barely pausing for food and fuel I didn't walk through the door until 6pm. Just in time for a pub meal with the family before crashing into bed after no sleep the previous night. Job done and a very enjoyable twitch too.
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| Amur Falcon photos by Stuart Piner |
