So that left me on 349 and in persuit of number 350. Well 350 species using my rules and yes it does include the Chinese Pond Heron and a dubious Little Auk in Scotland, which on reflection was a probably a reference to the size of a distant guillemot!
News broke of a an Eastern Black Redstart at Scalby Yorkshire at the weekend. Playing by my rules this would be number 350, so off I went up the M1 to Scarborough to a residential housing estate. When I arrived there were several groups of birders standing nattering about the weather, what they had in their packed lunches etc etc. This is never a good sign and the bird had gone missing. The bird had been seen at the end of a cul de sac about an hour before I arrived. So I got chatting to the locals who laughed I had made a 135 mile trip to probably see nothing. Then someone shouted 'its behind you!' and after realising they were not rehearsing for the local panto, turned round to see the bird on a roof!
It promptly flew off to be relocated on a residents allotment then various locations around the housing estate.
What a cracking bird all the way from the 'east'.
