Lesser Crested Tern, Desert Wheatear and points Due South
I'd always planned a big old day out to end my Big Year in style, though I anticipated it being sometime the other side of Christmas. But then the streak of excellent birds in the south continued and on top of the long-staying female Desert Wheatear in Dorset a Lesser Crested Tern was reported at Dawlish Warren in Devon. Bizarre for December, this was the first in the UK for 20 years following a bird in Norfolk in 2005: the lure of a yellow-billed tern was strong. When Owen contacted me to say he was going the following day, I didn't take much convincing! A 1am start for a 2am set off is never ideal but with the dwindling hours of daylight available and four target birds in three counties we needed to be in Devon by first light. Four easy hours of driving (for Owen - I passengered gamely all the way) and we arrived after a stop for breakfast and walked to the end of the golf course towards the bird hide. We must have turned up at a strange gap when birders ...