VISIT TO COSTA RICA

Images of a visit to Costa Rica can be seen by clicking on the relevant entry in the GALLERY on the right hand side of this page.

Visit to St Margaret's Church, Cley, Norfolk

White-crowned Sparrow immortalised in a stained-glass West window in Cley's Church.

The day began with a trip to Norfolk to see a Semi-palmated Sandpiper which we had previously 'seen' but at a vast distance. The visit  was to 'confirm' our tick and also to appreciate the the finer ID points.

On interrogating the Internet ,during our journey, to find out if any other interesting species were around we noticed that the Semi P had been potentially upgraded to the Megaspecies-----a Western Sandpiper.

The 'new' bird was duly observed at Cley Marshes.

An ordinary birding day was therefore transformed to a Congratulatory Mega day.

In thanks for this transformation we decided to visit St Margaret's church in Cley  to offer our Gratitude to the Great Ornithologist in the Heavens for sending us this rarity.

Whilst in the church we hunted for and eventually found ( the sign of persistent birders) the small painting of the rare White -crowned Sparrow which visted Cley from North America in January 2008 and which was reponsible for donations in excess of £ 6,300 which was used for the 13th century church's West window restoration