wow after reading the article about the Bearded Vulture in July's issue, I never would have thought in a million years one would turn up in my hometown. I had seen a news report of a Bearded vulture flying across the west midlands and thought to myself this can't be true. Two weeks after it was reported in my local area, I woke up at 6AM for work and was determined to finish work on time and hopefully see this amazing bird. So I set off to Howden Moors where I met my other half Mike to start our eight mile hike where we came across a gentleman called Pete, who was a little bit lost so we decided to stick together to find the vulture. After three hours of hiking and constantly being bitten we got to the very top of the moors and there it was this big incredible bird, with these bright white eyes that looked as though they were about to kill. Exhausted we sat in the long grass along with the midges, but nothing seemed to matter except the bird in my view as it was perched on the ledge stretching its wings glancing at us, I didn't want to leave. I could have sat there all day but unfortunately we had to walk four miles back, people were just passing us on the way up and down with big smiles on their faces. It was the best feeling seeing this bird as it felt everybody had deserved to see it, even a seventy one year old man with a walking stick achieved this amazing experience. on the way back it made me realise the miles and heights that everyone had to do was done by passion, that night i got back to the car at 9.30pm with a man I had never met before was now a friend. After the lockdown it made me realise how much everyone had missed the their passion "birding" we was all in it together that day. Harriet Day
