Avez-Vous un Cuppa?

This year I will be mostly checking out under watched sites in Leicestershire!..... So with this resolution ringing in my ears I went out this morning, with my old man,Jon my brother and his partner Robin to Burrough Hill CP for a walk around the hill fort. Well to cut a long story short, walking back to car I scanned the trees next to the toilet feeders for hopefully a few Tree Sparrows , but noticed almost straight away a Hawfinch sitting in the furthest tree. Result: GET IN!! Showing the bird to my family I realised that it was just too far to get a decent record shot and any way I had left my camera in the car! As usual I quickly got the news out and scanned the trees again with the Hawfinch still there and noted good numbers of finch species and the odd Tree Sparrow on the bird feeders. Happy with the views we returned to car and you could say a good start to the New Year!! Happy New Year to my friends and followers to my blog!

A juvenile Monty's Harrier honest!! Following info via the LROS website, a text from Andy Mackay and a phone call from John Hague I drove over to Burrough Hill CP, as Andy was watching a Harrier Sp flying over the hill. As I got to the hill fort I saw Andy scoping the bird over the nearby pines, joining him I picked up the Harrier as it flew away down the valley. Although it was a Harrier but what species could it be, was it a Juvenile Monty's Harrier or even possibly a Pallid Harrier?! Andy had taken a few record shots of the bird and it looked pretty good for a Pallid Harrier, which was good for me as it would have been a county tick. At this point we were joined by Steve Lister and Andrew Harrop who had just missed the bird as it flew over the ridge. Over the next half an hour or so the bird didn't show and we thought that maybe the bird had buggered off to the south. Andy left us to go home and check his photos of the Harrier to see if it was a Pallid Harrier? Then all...