Two weeks ago, I dipped the Finningley Black-winged Pratincole on the day England made it through to the Euro quarter finals. The bird had flown off twenty minutes before we arrived and wasn't seen again for five days.
I hadn't had chance to try to see the bird since, until today, when on my return journey from Birdfair, I realised I'd be passing pretty close to the site. Birdfair was fab, with the day spent working on the Yorkshire Coast Nature stand, meeting old friends and making new ones, spending too much on new books and generally having a good laugh. Finningley was only 15 minutes out of the way so not long after leaving the A1 at Blyth, we arrived at Croft Road. Smiling birders were departing, which is always a good sign, and they shared the good news that the Pratincole was showing well, despite the cold, drizzly July weather. Sure enough, a few minutes later and we were watching this elegant bird walking around among a flock of Lapwings, loafing on a bund in the small lake.
The bird was much darker, slate grey-brown above, than Collared Pratincole, with a shorter tail (not projecting beyond folded wings), long legs and dark mask being the most distinctive features, with only a small amount of red on the bill base. As usual, a really cool-looking bird and pleasing to see one in Yorkshire, my only other British sighting being in Norfolk way back in 2009.
Despite the poor weather, the bird seemed to grab a few insects off the flowering Ragwort, by jumping up, neck outstretched. The Lapwing flock was flushed a couple of times and the Pratincole flew round with them, looking very smart in flight, with black underwings, and a short white, dark-edged forked tail. We watched the bird for an hour before heading home.
England are playing tonight in the Euro final, against Spain.This is our second chance to win the cup, so fingers crossed. As with this Pratincole, second chances do sometimes work out!
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