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Friday, 4 May 2012

Standlake Monday 30th April

After work I headed off the Standlake in search of the storks. 
On the way I headed to Burnt Oak Lane - on the edge of Reading somewhere - near the AWB or whatever its called. A Bar Tailed Godwit had been there, but not when I had arrived.
Present was a pair of GADWALL, EGYPTIAN GEESE, a pair of MUTE SWAN , GREYLAG and CANADA GEESE. 
On to Standlake. 
Quite a comedy twitch this one - the directions showed the storks were 3 gates in along the edge of the Thames. Due to the amount of rain it was very wet. I had my suit trousers tucked into my socks and my eccos on. However, the water was up to my ankles! "Oh a twitcher I am" I thought as I waded through the water , over fences and finally arrived to see 6 WHITE STORKS. Very nice - like something out of Africa or something! 
I waited to get a shot of all 6 and got one. Then I heard and saw a KINGFISHER - so went off to get a pic. Not bad considering the light was poor. Also saw COMMON TERN, about 20 GOLDFINCH, PHEASANT and 3 WHIMBREL flew over - heard by their call. Got quite a nice shot of one of them. 
Sad news - one of the storks hit a power line the next day when they flew off. Gutted. 

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