A male Lesser Kestrel broke at 4.00pm yesterday afternoon after it had flown in off the sea and landed in a farmers field much to the joy of the lucky finder near Minsmere. Thankfully the bird went to roost so I arranged to go on news with Malc and Robo in the morning.The bird came out on the pager at 7.45am so I headed to pick the lads up and started the long journey East. We arrived on site just after 1.00pm and I got on the bird straight away thanks to another birder as soon as I arrived on site. What a bird, I was abit disappointed with the views as the bird was nearly half a mile away and I could only make out the grey head through the scope. This beautiful adult male represented the first record in Britain since the immature male on the Isles of Scilly in 2002 (on St Mary's from 13-21 May.
There are 17 previous records of this species in Britain and Ireland
2002 May 13 to May 21 Isles of Scilly 9 days St Mary's, first-summer male, 13th to 21st May, video., photo.
1992 May 31 London 1 day Hampstead Heath, male, 31st May.
1989 Apr 20 Kent 1 day Dover, male, dead, 20th April.
1987 Jun 23 Shetland 1 day Fair Isle, male, 23rd June.
1979 Jun 4 Yorks 1 day Fairburn Ings, male, 4th June.
1974 Jul 31 to Aug 3 Essex 4 days Rainham Marsh, 31st July to 3rd August.
1968 May 30 Cornwall 1 day St Ives, first-summer male, 30th May.
1926 Feb 24 Isles of Scilly 1 day No locality, 24th February.
1909 Oct 14 Yorks 1 day Spurn, immature male, shot, 14th October.
1903 Apr 11 Isle of Wight 1 day Samborough Hill, near Shorwell, female, picked up dead, 11th April.
pre-1901 Gtr.Manchester 1 day Chat Moss, near Manchester, Lancashire, shot, no date.
1897 Oct 25 Aberdeens 1 day Boyndlie, Aberdeenshire, female, shot, 25th October.
1895 Nov 25 Isle of Wight 1 day
Carisbrooke, male, shot, 25th November.
1892 Apr 12 Yorks 1 day Thirsk area, male, shot, 12th April, now at Hancock Museum, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
1891 Mar 3 Isles of Scilly 1 day Tresco, adult male, shot, 3rd March, now in Isles of Scilly Museum.
1890 Nov to 1891 Feb 17 Co.Dublin 109 days Woodford, near Shankill, adult male, seen, early November to 17th February 1891 when shot, now at National Museum, Dublin.
1877 May Kent 1 day Barton Farm, Buckland, near Dover, caught alive, May, now at Dover Museum.
After a good hour with better views we left the site and headed for Lowestoft where we connected with two Alpine swifts that were flying around over are heads
Leaving Lowestoft we headed home as the weather was turning and stopped at Sandy for a bag of fish and chips for are tea after another great days birding!
