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Sunday 22 January 2012

On the trail of the Auk

 When the wind blows strong there is always the chance that a stray seabird might turn up in an inland county like Buckinghamshire.
 The news that came through this afternoon though was totally unexpected, - LITTLE AUK at College Lake !! And what's more there was still time to get there before dark !
 So picking up Paul on the way, we were soon heading off that way.
Arriving on site we could see a crowd of birders staring across to the far side of the main lake at a tiny bird that seemed to be diving continuously. This looked like being hard work.
 But then all of a sudden it took off and flew low over the water and onto the front lake in front of the visitor centre. We were  just debating whether to head back to get a closer view when it decided to head back onto the main lake. From the far corner gradually it worked it's way back down towards us, eventually being  no more than 10 yards out from where we were standing allowing us to scrutinise a bird that is rarely seen at such close quarters, where it stayed until we left as it got dark. - Foolishly I didn't have my camera with me as I wasn't expecting such close views.
 A fantastic bird for the county and  the first ever twitchable one in Bucks.

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