KP....

But this is definitely not nuts!

I'm at Cockersands at around mid-day today and guess what, I have my recorders hat on and I'm even counting the guardians of Plover Scar the Oystercatchers and other birds when two elderly people pass by and ask....'are you looking at anything interesting'....at the very precise time I've got my lamps on a bird which instantly isn't a Ringed Plover of which there are about fifty....'everything is interesting'....I replied politely....'but do you mind if I talk to you without taking my eyes away from the telescope as I'm trying to assess the bird I just found which looks interesting to say the least'.

Now lets be straight about this, if you're looking at Ringed Plovers and all of a sudden you come across a similar looking bird which is obviously not a Ringed Plover or Little Ringed Plover, you're looking at a 'goodie'. By now I have my mobile in my hand and I'm calling a birder who's crossed my mind before in similar circumstances and who I know will probably be 'available' with no traffic to negotiate, and is known - if only to me - as a bit of a Jenson Button at the wheel but most importantly he knows what he's talking about and I love birders who know what they're talking about. 

So whilst having in mind that I don't want to end up the only birder to see this bird before it buggers off, I'm telling this guy he'd better get down the road to Cockersands 'cos I've got a 'plover' in my sights and I need him to agree with me when I tell him what this bird is.

There was actually another who ran through my mind but I thought he was in Egypt, Morocco, or somewhere exotic like that, but I was wrong and he came too, all of which was really the icing on the cake for me.

Kentish Plover. Fylde Bird Club

Certainly deja vu for me....It was a female Kentish Plover, like the one at Teal Bay 19 November 1994.