Hoopoe and then Ring Ouzel.

An afternoon trip to look for a Hoopoe that was reported at Hunsdon in Hertfordshire.  

We arrive at the place that the pin took us to, just a small bit of road off the main road, enough for four cars to park. It's a work yard with lorries loading up and workmen driving out after finishing work. 

Now we have no clue where to head to find the Hoopoe, so we walk about looking for any sign of a lawn that the target might be on.

We get lucky when a birder walks back from seeing it and sends us on the right course. 

Don't think we would have found the way on our own; it was up the road, looking for a not very well-signed public right-of-way path. When we found it, it was a 200-yard walk down to an open field with a large house over the back. The two fellows already here tell us that we have to stay on the edge and not walk on his ground, that he said the field was.

On the plus side, they have the Hoopoe in the scope, it's right over the back by the fellow's house and in front of a row of dark bushes, so we were never going to get any good photos and never tried, but the scope views were very good to give us another nice year tick, and always good to see these great-looking birds.

The next day, I was just sitting in the garden watching the birds, of course, when I remembered a Ring Ouzel had been seen at Rainham. 

Jimmy says, " Why are we waiting? Let's go see it. Brian is over the KGV reservoir, so he had to abort that and meet us over there. It's only 30 minutes on a good day if after the morning rush to get there. We beat Brian there and started scanning without any luck. I thought a few more people would have been looking for it; the report said it had been seen down by the metal gate halfway along the Thames path to the reserve.

Brian and the two Daves arrive, and a few more to help look for the Ouzel, three people here needed it for a lifer, and after about an hour, the bird flies out of a nearby bush and heads over the path we are on. It stays hidden in a large bush for a fair while. Marko arrived on his bike just in time to see the Ouzel fly out and back over the other side again, so only a couple of flight views, but it's a year tick, and with the long trips out, few and far between at the moment it keeps the score moving along.