An early birthday treat

So far this year I've not done too badly on the listing front. After a good start I tailed off a bit mid year on my year list but before today I was one behind my best ever total. More importantly I had managed to get 8 lifers. Not as good as many years  but by definition this gets harder each year as the new ones are getting increasingly harder and rarer. With my birthday coming up and a trip out promised I was looking to see what I could go and find. Initially it was going to be a trip on spec to Norfolk but then on Thursday news filtered out of a potential lifer, a black-throated thrush at Whipsnade Zoo!! It was actually found as a result of someone putting up a "what is this strange bird" photo and thus creating a major twitch. On the Friday it was elusive in poor weather and on Saturday was seen early doors then went AWOL after lunch. Still, there seemed a good chance of it sticking for Sunday and of course it is a nice place just to visit anyway.
We got to the entrance 15 minutes after it opened at 10 and news had already come up of it being seen near Hullabazoo. Having parked up it was only a short walk to the area. I'm not sure how well the assorted crowd of middle-aged blokes in camo gear and 'scopes went down with Judith though. Fortunately the zoo has lots of other attractions so she went off to inspect the nearby aquarium whilst I worked out what was occurring. The bird had been seen but then flew off before I got there. We all watched one berry-covered tree for 15 or 20 minutes but apart from a couple of blackbirds and redwings there was no excitement. Gradually the crowd of 30 or more started to spread out to inspect other areas as it had been reported as ranging widely. Finally, only 4 or 5 of us were left. I could see Judith had come out of the aquarium. I gave her a thumbs-down signal and she started looking around the back of the buildings to see if she could find it.
Suddenly a call went out as someones phone bleeped. "they've got it by the railway". There then ensued one of those very amusing sights as the assorted twitchers, joined by others now arriving from points distant, gather up their gear and half-ran, half-jogged off in search of the bird. It was only a few hundred yards and a crowd had already gathered looking at a grassy area with a flock of thrushes feeding on the ground. I immediately got a view thorough someones 'scope and the bird was in the bag.

It was feeding right next to a road with people and cars coming past it. Realising it might flush at any minute I grabbed some quick photos of it at reasonably long range.

It was a very smart bird, clearly larger than the redwings it was associating with. The black and grey patterning stood out well as it fed vigorously. Judith finally arrived and got onto it as well just before the whole flock lifted off as one of the resident wallabies came out of the hedge and spooked them!
We took that a sign to go and have a look at the rest of the zoo rather than stake out for a better view.
It was a cold day but we had some good performances from the animals in the collection including 4 wolverines, albeit being mainly asleep but as least on show.

The big paddocks are always good for showing off the associated larger animals. The central paddock  is actually the same size as Regents Park Zoo so gives them lots of room to breathe.

On the smaller side, the red panda was actually showing well, mainly because it was being fed as one of the keepers was giving a very instructional talk about it.

One of the good bits about Whipsnade is the way you have lots of animals wandering around semi-wild. As well as the wallabies you see lots of maras pottering around. These are basically large Patagonian guinea-pigs with a very cute expression on their faces.

As we were leaving we went past the flamingo pool. The light was just going but the low sun lit up their pink feathers very nicely.

The most amusing encounter though was on the drive through Asia. Ahead of us a car was being held up by 4 camels. They stopped right on the road and just looked at the car as they chewed the cud.

They really gave you the impression that they knew exactly what they were doing. They held us up for no more than 5 minutes but it was well pitched to be just long enough to show who was boss!!

Overall a very enjoyable day. A lifer, a nice lunch and a good day round the zoo. So good in fact that we joined the zoo so we can go back next year when the weather might be a bit better. Who knows, it might even be in January if the thrush hangs on and I need it for my 2020 year-list!!