Morden Bog NR - Sun 1 Jun

Despite still suffering with a head cold and blocked sinuses I had no option but to drive down to Morden Bog this morning to see the mega rarity discovered yesterday! Arriving on site just before 7.00am I joined the few hundred birders already present and spent an hour enjoying some great views of a Short-toed Eagle! The bird spent the entire duration of my stay perched in a pine tree in the near distance, and fortunately the gathered masses were all pretty sensible and everyone was content viewing the bird from a distance to avoid flushing it. As usual I tried my best to get some top-quality images of this major rarity, and despite the distance I think you can tell that this is indeed a bird:

 

 

The Short-toed Eagle attracted quite a bit of avian interest too, with a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a Green Woodpecker, a Mistle Thrush and a pair of Carrion Crows all giving it a bit of stick! Other birds seen whilst on site included several singing Tree Pipits, a nice male Stonechat and a fly-over Siskin. A bit of a surprise came in the form of an adult Mediterranean Gull which flew over with a small number of Black-headed Gulls. All in all a brilliant start to the day despite the fact I felt awful!