There's a Spotted Crake out there somewhere

Having missed out on the Spotted Crake four days ago we decided to have a go at the one at Netherfield Lagoons, viewing with the sun behind and with hopefully closer views this was an improvement over Grove Ferry, but we met a birder who'd been there for two hours and not seen it - I jested that now we'd arrived it'd be out doing the Highland Fling shortly. For shortly read five minutes. Mrs L had the scope but struggled to locate it. I got a view through another birders scope and then so did Mrs L, at least that's what I thought at the time. All the other birders headed off, but as we'd only just arrived we decided to hang around and maybe get a better view. Well after a couple of hours we gave up and let a new batch of birders carry on the search. Only then did I realise that Mrs L hadn't actually seen the bird! I suggested we stay, but she was chilly and wanted to leave. According to reports the bird was next seen at 12:30 only 15 minutes after we'd left!

Next stop Welbeck Watchpoint, a good spot for Honey Buzzards, but a bit late in the year and they may well have already migrated south. All we got was a Common Buzzard (check out RCB), and a diary entry to return earlier next year.

So mimicking our Spotted Crake day of four days ago, once again we'd missed out on our two target birds, except this time we'd not seen much else, still the day still gets a tick in the good box.