Two patch ticks

I started birding the Lizard regularly, when I moved down to Cornwall almost three years ago. Back at the beginning, I thought that the 200th species I’d see during my time there would be some medium grade American vagrant. Green-winged Teal or American Golden Plover perhaps. As it happens though, I’ve seen neither of those species at my 200th over three years was actually far less spectacular: an Eider. Closely followed by a Short-eared Owl, bring my total to 202 (I saw a Purple Heron when I visited in 2008 before adopting the area as a patch). But that’s the beauty of birding on the Lizard. Almost anything can turn up, common or rare. Who’d have guessed I’d see a Pallid Harrier before a Short-eared Owl or a Bufflehead before an Eider! Or that my first Shrike on the Lizard would be Brown Shrike (probably enough). Ok, so it’s often a slog – the birds can turn up anywhere and there’s a lot of cover to check and you can often go long periods without finding anything noteworthy. It doesn’t matter though. It’s a great patch and even when there’s nothing much about, the scenary is still spectacular.