June 17th

Had been holding off on seeing the Rose-coloured Starling as I really wanted the chance to get it on the patch and had been working when it had been showing in the inland gardens. So I set up a vigil tonight at Hamilton Dock (within my patch) on the off chance I may be able to flukily scope it distantly around the yacht basin area where it had been seen the previous few evenings. I was surprised to be able to see a good chunk of that area and all distant Starling flocks were grilled with no luck. Suddenly I realised there was a very large gathering of Starlings gathered feeding on waste ground just inland of me on the western edge of Hamilton Dock. I scoped through them and after a while a vision in pink shone back at me. What a bird and so glad I actually got it on the patchbirding area. The flock soon then flew off and it was later seen by others back in the main harbour area. Earlier in the month a fine female Red-backed Shrike showed well on the old sewage works fence at Corton. However we are now into the lull period so dont expect many/any posts imminently..no change there then you say.....