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| Little Egret at the scrape at Minsmere |
Hey everyone, a second post today, Post 416, as a lot has happened recently and I need to write it up before School starts again next week!
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| Marsh Harrier from the Island Mere Hide |
Well you’ll know from my recent posts (
Post 411 &
Post 415) that I spent a bit of
time in East Anglia with the BTO and some really fantastic young birders and
heaps of bird experts from the BTO. What a great time that was. We knew it was
going to be a busy weekend with early starts, late nights and days full of
activities. So, as we’d travelled a long way Dad thought it would be just as well to
have an extra night in the area (somewhere that had beds and showers!) and
maybe pop somewhere else before heading back to Yorkshire....
So plans were made for a good long night's sleep in a hotel
and for a visit to
RSPB Minsmere before we headed back up to Yorkshire! I was
so focused on the BTO Bird Camp I had totally forgotten what happens in the Spring
at Minsmere: Springwatch! How could I have forgotten?! Well I saw the tweets about
a week before Bird Camp which was great and got in touch and they said they hoped
to see me while I was there. In the background Dad was busy emailing and we received an invite to be in the Unsprung audience so I was really excited about that as well
as visiting Minsmere.
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| Southern Marsh Orchid |
We arrived to news that the Purple Heron was still on the
reserve and had been seen about 2 hours before we got there so we headed to
Bittern Hide to see if it was around. It wasn’t there and the hide was busy so
after a few minutes we moved on to Island Mere Hide. We hadn’t even got into
the hide and we saw a Bittern fly in to the reeds at the side of the hide, only
the second one I’ve ever seen! It was out of sight too quickly to get my camera
on it though! Just outside of this hide I saw my first orchid of the year too, one I'd not seen before, the Southern Marsh Orchid. It was just emerging but was still beautiful.
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| Cormorant drying its wings |
I watched Cormorants drying their wings, Marsh Harriers
hunting, Great Crested Grebes diving, it was a lovely spot to wait to see if
the Heron would show up. Then I got a bit of a surprise. Lindsay Chapman from
Unsprung turned up in the hide and asked if she could have a chat with me. Obviously
I said ‘Of course’ and then I noticed the camera. The chat was about my blog,
how I’d managed to write about nature every day for a year, the BBC Wildlife
Magazine Junior Blogger of the Year award and the BTO bird camp. At the end of
it though she presented me with an Unsprung Hero’s Award. I was so surprised,
it was hard to take in, but I was very proud to get it. I'm just glad I didn't
burst into tears of joy on camera!
You can see the interview on the BBC Springwatch Website if you click the link below the picture:
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| On the Springwatch patio with Dad! |
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Sneaky peak at the
live cameras! |
Dad had to fill in a consent form so that the film could be
used on TV so we had to go to the place that Springwatch was based on the
reserve.
We got to have a little look behind the scenes and at the studio. That
was quite exciting too.
Well it wasn’t even dinner time so we went back on to the
reserve to see what else was about. It was a great day for nature. I saw 60
species that day on the reserve and 3 new lifers – a Sandwich Tern, Long Tailed
Duck and a Mediterranean Gull. The Purple Heron decided to be elusive though.
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| Sandwich Tern behind the Kittiwakes |
I bumped into another person who was there looking for it
too, and they’d had a bit of bad luck as they were walking between the hides
when it had decided to show early that morning. It was the Birding Biker – Gary
Prescott. We had a lovely chat about what we both do and our blogs, it was great
to hear about all the places he’s going to to see if he can beat last year’s
list. I read on his blog later that he’d seen the Purple Heron at about 6pm.
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| Lindsay & me after the interview |
I was a bit jealous when I read that but I was back in the
Springwatch studio at that point getting ready for Unsprung as Dad and I were
invited to be in the Audience. He’d arranged that earlier as well as getting me into the right hide at the right time for the
surprise Unsprung Hero’s award. I wondered if we’d be seen on the show when we
got to stand right in a corner but when Chris started to do a bit of a rehearsal
I realised that I’d be in the opening shots stood right next to him! We got
moved around a bit in the show too by Royston the floor manager so if you saw that episode I pop up now and
again in different places.
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| My award badge! |
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| On the Unsprung set |
The show was great to see, getting the Unsprung Hero's award
was amazing and it had been such a wonderful day on the reserve that I couldn't
be too disappointed that I didn't see the Purple Heron. It was a great day to
end an incredible weekend. I think I smiled all the way back to Yorkshire.
Hope you enjoyed,
Z.
Awww so cool Zach, congratulations on winning and I love your shots here too! - Tasha
ReplyDeleteThanks Tasha :-)
ReplyDelete