Pine Bunting - Murston, Kent

Tick number 4 of 2017 came in the form of a Pine Bunting.......

So when is a Sat Nav of no use on a twitch? Well, as it turns out today. Apparently a Sat Nav needs its owner (that would be me on this occasion) to put the correct post code in. Apparently if the said owner does not put the correct post code in you can find yourself about 25 minutes in the wrong direction (assuming the postal codes entered and what should have been entered were the one I USED.

OK, so that should be it shouldn't it where these little gadgets are concerned. NOT SO. Now if your passenger then provides a new postal code surely this one then takes you where you ideally wanted to go? Of course not. Yes we were closer but we still didn't have a cigar. We were down a dead end in the middle of an industrial estate.

Finally, we hit gold with the correct one and ended up on site. A brief walk from the car and we were on the sea wall looking back towards the small pond with the shooting hides nearby.

The Pine Bunting had not been seen for over 6 hours - - - 6 Hours, OH HELL, just what you want to hear; not another dip surely? Within thirty seconds of setting my scope up with water still in my eyes, i had it sitting on the fence wire right in front of the brambles it was frequenting. Oh hold on that's a Reed Bunting.....erherm, lets move on.

Yellowhammer x2, Greenfinch x4, more Reed Buntings and Dunnocks frequented the area. Then sitting on top for about two minutes one Pine Bunting. TICK TICK BOOM.

It was gone, was that all we were to get? NO, it then appeared up top of the same bramble twice more and although scope views  - they were all good. 

It had a head i assure you

Time to get the camera out, a couple of Turnstone were patrolling the sea wall behind us. Its getting easier but still not got anything yet i was hoping for with it. I know its me and not the camera - i'm not blaming my tools.

We decided as time was getting on to chance our arm at the Harty Ferry Lane raptor view point. Marsh Harrier's, Buzzard's,  a single Ring Tailed Hen Harrier and to finish the day a year-ticking Pheasant