Night Heron makes a third showing

Great afternoon! Night Heron was refound late afternoon by Mike Doughty in roughly the same area of the Spring Brook Scrubland where it was last seen perched yesterday late evening. After visiting Windmill Pool it flew off, where by an amazing stroke of luck it was seen flying over Springbrook Lane by Richard Harbird as he was driving along there! He located it in a tree at a large pond, where I finally managed to get a brilliant view of it perched, and Dave Hutton got some smashing shots (now on web). The bird then relocated to around a wooded marlpit at Springbrook Farm (Terry's Green), where patient birders waiting at the gate near the junction of Malthouse Lane and Small Lane eventually were rewarded with a couple of decent flight views, last seen flushed by a crow and seemed to fly down to the area near the two bridges along Springbrook Lane (near where Mike first had it), sometime around 8 pm. This is the last definite sighting I know of.

Many of the birders who've put the hours in have been rewarded now. Over 30 people have seen it so far. I hope more see it, but please keep disturbance at the scrubland to a minimum (breeding birds) - try scanning trees next to water. I still think the causeway is worth staking out too, though the bird is covering a large area (at least 1 x 2 km).

Everyone who's thought about the age of the bird agrees it's an adult.

Another highlight for me today was a Redshank over Engine Pool this morning, which John Sirrett put me on to (another patch tick).

Matt