Red-footed Rarity

The end of May finished with an exceptional bird, a national scarcity but one that is even rarer in Cumbria, and better still, it has been discovered just a stone's throw away: the most gorgeous first-summer male Red-footed Falcon! I was familiar with the site; this was somewhere I’d visited in search of Barn Owls and Kingfishers – a lovely spot on a quiet single-track road, near a bridge with surrounding fields and hedgerows. This wasn’t just any old Red-foot either; this was the closest I’d seen (in Britain at least) to an adult male, and it appeared minutes after I arrived whizzing up and down over the road and hedgerows in search of insects. I stayed a good three hours or so and, in that time, amassed over 60 keepers including these stunners. It was a lovely bird, and the light came good in the end, allowing me to really do the thing justice as it hunted, hovered and, occasionally, perched on a nearby dead tree chomping on its insect prey. A truly magical few hours, largely spent on my own, and it was only when the sun eventually sank below the dark clouds on the horizon that I managed to drag myself away. A wonderful evening, and unlike recent twitches, I was home withing ten minutes scrutinising the many, many images.