A bit of a Dilemma

133. Blue Winged Teal

I was at the hide on the Quoile when a local birder had a text saying there was a Blue Winged Teal at Castle Espie. Castle Espie is the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's centre in Northern Ireland. So a rarity has made its way into a collection of rare ducks!!!!

Anyway I went there and it was showing well No rings, No clipped wings. and Castle Espie doesnt have any Blue Winged Teal in its collection.

However it didnt feel the same as seeing it on an open piece of water, the fact that it had landed in a collection rather spoiled it for me. My dilemma is whether to tick it or not. I think I will still tick it for insurance in case it is ratified so its my 133'rd bird this year.

In addition to my blog, and as I am very keen on Bird Photography , I am now working on a seperate page of links to Bird Photographers around the world. Its a slow process of putting html code round the various websites. I am upto 350 sites so far. I would like to make it one of the largest link sites in the birding world. So if you are a Bird photographer send me a website address to pluvius@hotmail.co.uk and I will put it into the links.