Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - Acres Down

Acres Down

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - Acres Down

When news broke of this bird on twitter it all seemed a little odd and then a picture appeared too and it looked to good to be true. Anyway it had gone missing but I decided to take a punt and head down anyway. The traffic was truly awful, a complete nightmare through Shoreham, Worthing and Arundel and then again around Portsmouth too. The only saving grace was regular updates that the bird was still present. Soon enough  arrived and after dreading the parking got a space easily much to my surprise.

I made the short walk to crowd and the bird was on show immediately. What an absolute beast! I watched the bird for a couple of hours as it found any suitable perch on a pretty flat heath to be able to hunt from. It was never particularly close but it looked immense through the scope. Sadly the heat haze and bright sunlight made photographing the bird really difficult and they certainly do not do it justice at all. Apart from heading back to the car and being inches away from a New Forest pony kick in the chest it was a cracking few hours.