Black-throated Thrush at Whipsnade ( lifer )

With no news of the Whipsnade Thrush on Thursday we thought we had lost our chance of a good lifer not far from home.
With all the election stuff on the television on Friday we never took a lot of notice of bird news until later in the day when we saw that the bird had been seen on & off all day, it's now to late to go, so we decide to just get up & go on Saturday morning in the hope that it had stayed around.
As we pull into the car park lots of birding pals are heading towards the Zoo entrance.

After the Zoo fee is payed we head down to the pig enclosure & another lifer is ticked within minutes.The Black-throated Thrush is first seen in a well stocked berry bush & then drops down into the pig pen for a few minutes before flying off over the cafe calling as it went before landing on top of a large tree with a  bare branch at the top of it giving great scope views before flying a long way out of sight.
It's a grey old day & now for the next hour the rain gets heavy, so the crowd head for cover.
Brian breaks cover as the rain starts to ease off & head off over a foot bridge & gives us a call to inform us that he had relocated the bird,Jimmy & I pass on the information to the now large group of birders some had not seen the bird yet so a mad chase is on as they all scramble over the bridge & are all rewarded as Brian still has the bird in view. It's in a distant berry bush but  did drop down to drink
from a distant puddle for a short time before going out of sight not to be seen again for the time we stayed here.We spend a couple of hours  watching the Zoo animals before heading off for home after a nice twitch with many birding  friends.

The Black-throated Thrush

Just a few of the zoo animals as we walked around

White Rhino

Wolverine

A Red Panda

Brian's 300th year tick at last.plus 3 ticks for me.

It was a long time coming but we were both with Brian to congratulate him on ticking he's first 300 year ticks today.
The bird was a Siberian Stonechat that we went to Hollesley Marshes to find. We drive down by the prison & park in the reserve car park,it's a wet muddy walk that takes us 20 minutes or so before we spot the target bird flitting about in the reeds not far away from us & we get great views as was fitting for a milestone bird.
It's off to Waxham for the Red-breasted Flycatcher but on arrival we meet a fellow birder who tells us the bird had not been seen at all today & he & fellow birders had been searching for a few hours without any sign. we decide not to waste any time looking as we had already dipped on the way at Winterton  where we thought it would be rude not to have a look for the  Eagle Owl as we are so close we didn't find it but had to have a look.
On to Buckenham now after a tip off as where to look for the Taiga Bean Geese.
The car is parked by the railway crossing & we find the Taiga Geese a long way away just after we cross the crossing, 3 Geese are seen in the far corner of the field along the railway line.
A two tick day turns into three when on the way home in the Brecks we finally get to see a male Golden Pheasant after we had looked a few times before & failed to see any.
So a really good day getting 3 year ticks for both Jimmy & I & a big day for Brian with his 300 up.

The 300th Bird

The Siberian Stonechat