At last Lady Amherst's then another lifer Rufous Turtle Dove

With Brian still in Scotland Jimmy & I think it is about time that we had a go for the last Lady Amherst's Pheasant left in the the country.
We did try once last year but didn't like it much & found it hard to go back to spend hours looking at a small patch of grass in case the bird showed for a second or two. but off we go for one last try & arrive at Lidlington Beds at 6 o'clock & spend six hours just looking at said patch of grass with out any sign of the target.
We do hear it call at least three times but we can't leave it at that & come back the next day for what will really be our last try.
This time we roll up an hour earlier & hear the bird calling many times from the wooded area, it seems to be close but we can't see any sign of it.
Three hours later with a few more people looking we get a quick sighting at the bottom of the ridge, then it walks up the hill to give us a better view of it as it walks across the grass patch that we were all focusing on. So worth the effort after all. Nice to meet up with Geoff Busby again & also nice to meet some new faces while here.
So with one lifer in the bag we are up very early this morning to try for another as we head off to Otford in Kent for the Rufous Turtle Dove.
It's six o'clock when we arrive to be meet by at least 30 other birders & the first fellow we reach has the bird in his scope & lets us both get a look at it.
Jimmy gets his scope set up & we get a great view as it sits out in the open before dropping down into the garden & it stays out of sight for the next couple of hours.
More people arrive & then the bird is seen again but this time a lot deeper in the leaves making it a lot harder to find.Most people had trouble finding the bird & the couple of scopes that had found the right angle to see it were busy letting all those that hadn't seen it the chance to get a view, a really nice friendly crowd here today.
So only 2 ticks for the 3 days but both lifers make it a good weekend.