Green Heron and Solitary Sandpiper

What a day! Firstly this morning, Bun and I popped down to 'The Lost Gardens of Heligan' in Cornwall to see the Green Heron that has been there for a few days. We enjoyed superb views (before the crowds got too big, it's a very popular place on a Sunday!)) and saw it catch and devour a fish, a dragonfly and a vole!

 I just happened to have been shooting a bit of video when it  very deftly caught this

Southern Hawker.

This evening I didn't make my usual Sunday evening trip down to Black Hole Marsh, because I'm off to the Isles of Scilly in the morning and I hadn't started packing yet! I definitley should have done though! I'd just gotten out of my bath when I got the call from Steve, he'd only gone and found a Solitary Sandpiper!!! A bird he's always said he'd find on patch one day! I was down there within ten or so minutes, the light was fading rapidly but the bird was nice and close. It was very noticeably smaller and more delicate than the Green Sandpipers nearby and had a very obvious white eye-ring. Eventually all five of the birders present saw it in flight and saw the dark rump with barred sides, the clinching feature. What a great find, a first for Devon apparently. It's a shame a couple of the local patch birders are away on holiday. It was just too dark for photos by the time I arrived but I attempted a bit of video. You can see a bird but you'll have to take my word for it as to what bird it is!