Collared Pratincole !

21 May - A dilemma.... as lockdown eases, the chance to see a rare bird while still being socially distanced along the sea wall, at Pilning on Severnside. We are no allowed to travel an unlimited distance for exercise, so in evening sunshine I made the trip and, almost in the shadow of the Severn Bridge, a scan of the lagoon revealed a smart adult Collared Pratincole sat on the mud, alongside Avocets, LRPs and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits. Pratincoles are strange birds - almost like a cross between a Tern and a Swallow, but part of the shorebird family. This bird showed the fawn-brown plumage and the yellow throat patch, and between periods of resting on the mud it fed in erratic flight, jinking in a strangely fluid motion and approaching quite close at times. A mini-twitch with a few other locals present, and strange to have this reminder of normality, after so long a period of restrictions, it almost caused a slight feeling of guilt to be leaving the immediate environment of home...….