24th April. Target Birds

One thing that's certain to make me put a bit more effort in whilst out birding is something to aim for. It's certainly the reason why I can wander around seemingly birdless crop fields on Shetland in October. I always seem to have some senario in my head that the big one is just around the corner - it seldom is, in fact it very rarely is but when it is then all those hours of birdless drudge are forgotten. Future dull days are enlivened by the memory of the time that you struck proverbial gold and that memory alone just gives you that extra push to get you through the day. So before I set out today I had targets, nothing outlandish just three species; Cuckoo, Redstart and Ring Ouzel. There seemed to be plenty of these three at other locations such as Annersley Pit Top in Notts so why wouldn't they be lurking at Orgreave. Well I walked the entire site, checked every likely nook and cranny spending almost four hours doing so but failed. But the point was that the thought of perhaps getting one of my targets gave me the incentive to keep on pushing through, it's this chance of uncovering the expected or even more the unexpected that keeps me watching a site as bad as Orgreave or Treeton - one day they will come good and the memory of that will fuel my enthusiasm for the coming years.

During the morning I did however manage another three Wheatear and a female Peregrine and then spent an hour or so photographing, or at least attempting, some warbler photos including a constant singing Gropper that hopped on to the adjacent fence briefly.



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