When Graham Smith contacted me ask if I fancied a trip to Beeley in Derbyshire to see the recently discovered Dusky Thrush, I thought why not. So Graham, Martin Dear and myself set off early morning. We arrived about 10am to find dozens of birders present with many saying they had seen the bird during the morning. Encouraging! It was not long before I had a glimpse of the bird as it landed in a tree but it did not say long but went to feed in the orchard, which I could not quite see from where I was. A little later we moved to the orchard area and managed views of the bird as it fed on the ground, but it was only partly visible from where I was. A little later we moved to a better viewpoint for the orchard, waited there an hour or so but the bird did not appear. Then we got word that the bird had been found in bushes on the edge of a field near the village, so we relocated there.
About two hundred birders were present and everyone focused on the bird as it sat in the bush for about ten minutes. Then the bird took off and flew fairly high across the village.
We had seen the bird really well, albeit somewhat further away than at the orchard,so we decided to head home.
The species breeds in open woodland and forests in central and eastern Siberia. So rather rare in the UK !
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| Dusky Thrush |
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| Birders dispersing after the Thrush flew off. |
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