Armchair Tick

Hayle Estuary, Cornwall 2016
A rare (for me) occurrence took place today. I got an armchair tick.

Back in 2016, me and my mate Pete were in Cornwall doing the rounds of a few sites. I was secretly hoping to bump into the Dalmatian Pelican which at the time had got a bit twitchy and was frequently moving about. So imagine my joy when I picked up a huge bird being hotly pursued by a mass of Gulls. I first looked at the bird on bins and I couldn’t mistake the bird for anything other than the Pelican. I then got scope views for a few minutes as it tracked up the Estuary as it headed in the direction of Marizion. A fantastic beast of a bird and something that will stay in my memory forever. I can still recall the buzz when I realised what I was seeing.

I have to admit that I doubted (BOU decisions can be brutal) it would make anything other than Category E (or sit in Category D for an eternity) of the list but had hope as some other countries authorities had accepted what was obviously the same bird (proved from Photos). So I’m very pleased that they have spent the time debating this record and accepted it. It’s some consolation for the Bearded Vulture!