Wish granted

IN the autumn I went up to North Berwick from the Fens to see all the wonderful birds along the coast. As I’m in a wheelchair, I stuck to Aberlady, Longniddry, Port Seton and Musselburgh – all excellent places if you can’t walk far.

At the top of my wish list was Red-throated Diver. One had been spotted on the River Esk a couple of days before I went up and I thought it would be a case of “You should have been here yesterday!” However, I went to the estuary at Goose Green the day after I arrived, parked next to the river mouth, got out of the car and there it was! You can imagine my excitement, not only a Red-throated Diver close up, on the Esk, but one still in summer plumage! All the birders that saw it wondered if it was sick, but it was diving for fish in the river and it did go out to sea occasionally. Carol Roberts, via email