Of Pies and Birds

15th January. Long Weekend

2012-01-16T20:41:00.006Z

The long weekend got off to a good start with a Little Owl on the 'Plains' a new record for the site. Not much of a surprise as I've seen Little Owls at all the adjacent birding spots, with the exception of RVCP.

A pair of Peregrines putting on a spectacular aerial display was the highlight of Saturday afternoon. The evening gull roost has drastically reduced to just handful of large gulls with birds now favouring the more traditional Broomhead roost. Despite this I stuck it out until 4:15 when the numbness in my fingers became too much!

Sunday was another very cold clear start though the building cloud suggested that it might be a good day for goose passage. Sure enough between 9:15 and 9:45 at least 700 birds passed through. A Water Rail, on the river, was a useful self found year tick and almost made up for not finding this Whooper Swan.

8th January. Snow

2012-01-09T20:48:00.005Z

Stumbled into this rather charming and very obliging Snow Bunting this morning. It's possibly the bird that's been popping up briefly since November, but the first time this year so I'm having it so there!

6th January. The Bus Home

2012-01-06T20:42:00.004Z

There was something wrong with the bus journey home this evening. It all started when I overheard the bloke behind me moaning to his mate about how the only things in his freezer was pies.I would have offered to empty it for him, but he was wearing one of those hoodie things and probably would have stabbed me or worse.. That however wasn't the most disturbing thing (because nobody should moan about a fridge full of pies) the thing that upset me most was that when I got off the bus I was faced by one of those posters showing that witch Thatcher's evil bastard grinning head - okay so it's really Meryl Streep but it's close enough. Surely this would make a more appropriate poster for the buses of South Yorkshire...

2nd January. A Pie New Year

2012-01-04T20:40:00.005Z

As the clock struck twelve the list hit zero and for a brief moment I was sad that my years efforts had come to an end, but soon the Unicum had kicked in and I was feeling more optimistic about the coming year and just a little bit pissed.

Nasty nasty nasty stuff

The First Pies Of The New Year

Spent the last day of 2011 at Slimbridge -why? Well we were down at the brother-in-laws for New Year - just a stones throw from last years Oriental Turtle Dove, and Slimbridge being just fifty miles away seemed a good bet for a day out. Obviously we saw lots of nice ducks with half their wings missing and some that had got there under their own steam. However the highlight was an half hour question and answer session on the Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks that have been brought there with the aim of breeding, and eventually boosting the woefully low number of breeding birds. Following a brief talk we were treated to some live on site CCTV footage of the young (most of which had now attained 1st winter plumage). Ok so it wasn't Samut Sakorn, but it's probably the nearest I'll ever get to these enigmatic birds.

29th December. Last Of The Year

2011-12-29T20:09:00.013Z

That's it, this afternoons visit was my final to the patch this year. It, like much of the 400 or so visits throughout the year was pretty uneventful and I failed to add any more species to the self-found year list. The list stalled at 131 back in November and despite much leg work I just couldn't get another. I'm not complaining though, I managed 11 more species than last year. A total of 141 species were recorded at Orgreave this year - which given the habitat isn't half bad.

Three records of Black-necked Grebe this year - all in cracking summer plumage. This bird was found on my first bus visit after ditching the car.

Even the detritus strewn River Rother produced some good birds.

Some new additions to the site list were a little underwhelming.

Despite the at times constant disturbance breeding birds did remarkably well, with success from Redshank, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, L R Plover, Tufted Duck (4 broods) and Common Tern - the latter species' presence and persistent patrolling against predators no doubt helped the other breeding birds.

A total of 24 species of wader were recorded throughout the year.

One of my personal favourites this year was this totally unexpected Arctic Tern flock on the 29th July.

A good year for Wheatears with 'flocks' in double figures and an unprecedented number of Greenland birds.

So it all starts again on Sunday - or in my case Monday. I'm feeling a little negative at the moment, I always do at this time of year, but the excitement of a new challenge is already starting to fuel my enthusiasm - maybe this year I'll find I'll get my first BB rarity on the patch.

19th December. 12 Days

2011-12-19T20:49:00.003Z

With only twelve days of the year left, I can already feel the new year bells ringing in their anti-climax marking the end of one of the best years local birding that I've ever had. But a lot can happen in twelve days and it's perhaps a little too early to feel the chill of Old Father Time. One of the glaring omissions on the Sheffield area list is Lesser Scaup and with the Orgreave Pochard flock reaching almost 200 birds it's surely only a matter of time before it falls, and something that is well and truly at the top of my Christmas list.

Meanwhile I spent a good chunk of the weekend tracking down the Redpoll flock and with a little help from Jean C Roche and the magic of MP3 I managed to keep them in one spot long enough to find at least one Mealy among them, though there were probably at least two others. Something to keep me busy in the coming weeks.

The gull roost is still coming up with the goods with Martin scoring a putative 1st year Caspian or hybrid (see his blog for details) and at least two Yellow-legged Gulls and the green-ringed Med' Gull still roosting most evenings.

It seems a long time since some quality pies featured on the pages of this blog, so here in all it's naked pie porn glory is a quality Huntsman Pie purchased, from Cannon Hall Farm Shop in Barnsley, by a very kind colleague who understands my need for savoury pastry products.

Stuffing, Turkey and Pork - Pietastic

14th December. Good Evening

2011-12-15T20:19:00.007Z

The lack of blogging lately has been down to one or two things; like most working birders the general lack of daylight at this time of year restricts us to weekends, occasional days off and er sick days. Managed to miss out on a fine herd of seven Bewick's Swans at the weekend due to me being a nesh lazy git! Hence the self-found list remains stagnant at 131.

There's also been an appalling lack of scandal of late, though having recently thrown myself off Facebook my source for gutter birding news has all but dried up. I did attend an interesting bird group meeting recently where the speaker was like a cross between Eric Hoskings and Bernard Manning - and that's where we'll leave it....

"......Tits like coconuts"

28th November. Not Available In The Shops

2011-11-28T21:49:00.003Z

Those of you who've been worrying about the health/sanity of LGRE need fear no more. Since his disappearance from the birding scene (well since he got kicked off Bird Foru...Blah Blah Blah) rumours of his dwindling health have been rife. Thankfully it became clear on Friday that it was in fact his lesser known doppelganger a Mr George Michael that was indeed ill and that aids (shouldn't that be aides?) close to LARGE knew his whereabouts.

Turns out LiaRGE had shut himself away in the cupboard under the stairs of his Little Chalfont home, with his Fisher Price tape recorder and a months supply of chicken cup o soup, to bring you his latest musical offering 'Praise Me'. Remember this is not available in the shops and stock is shifting quick (ten copies were dispatched to an address in Crawley this lunchtime) Order now in time for Christmas....

26th November. Snubbed

2011-11-28T21:34:00.003Z

A quiet weekend on the patch, though another (or the same) Caspian Gull was found by Andy on Saturday. I rudely snubbed it by staying in and cleaning the oven! But he did oblige me with some nice photos again!!

Photos by Andy Deighton

20th November. Performing Seals

2011-11-20T20:25:00.005Z

Almost too foggy to bird this morning, but given that I only had an hour I opted for a quick walk on the patch. Visibility was that poor you could hardly see the waters edge so I opted to check the bushes and river side trees. Not surprisingly woodland birds don't feature too highly on the list at Orgreave so a Treecreeper calling set the pulse racing almost as much as the earlier Smew and being a new species for the site equally valuable!

The seal colony at Donna Nook has long been a favourite late autumn day out so having promised Beth and her friend that we'd go we went. It's always been popular but thanks to that twat Packham and his hit man and her sidekick it's gone nuclear! The overflow car park was overflowing and the constant train of people trudging over the dunes was like a scene from dawn of the dead - but with white tracksuits and baseball caps! The seals performed but the whole thing was about as enjoyable as being dragged around Meadowhall by my testicles - still the girls seemed to enjoy it.

Madness!!

18th November. 130

2011-11-20T20:06:00.006Z

Having turned down two lifts for the Eastern Black Redstart this weekend I was bound to feel a little gripped off. Fortunately you can't tick it (yet) so I didn't mind missing out. How many of us are still counting the cost of a similiar attitude towards the Essex Red-throated Thrush all those years back? Cough splutter - me for one!

However my extended weekend got off to a cracking start on Friday when I found a red-head Smew on the patch. Self-found patch year bird number 130 and a new bird for the rapidly expanding Orgreave list.

16th November. 16th November 1991

2011-11-15T19:40:00.002Z

20 Years? It seems like only yesterday.

Photo by Mick Turton

13th November. Predictable

2011-11-13T19:54:00.004Z

I left the house this morning with one particular species in the back of my mind - White-fronted Goose. Nothing exciting, but locally scarce and given a notable number of inland records over the last few days surely a contender for the next patch tick. After a couple of hours counting ducks and grilling the Meadow Pipit and Linnet flocks I wandered over towards the 'plains'. Some newly seeded areas had recently proven popular with the roaming Canada/Greylag flock. Finding the flock I instantly found two White-fronts feeding on the edge of the flock. Incredible if only finding birds was always this easy and predictable.

Andy Deighton managed, as is becoming the norm, far better shots than me.

Some disturbance from the locals

And they were off!!

Back down in the evening and there was no sign of the geese. The White-fronts brought the self-found patch year to 128 and a Water Rail below the Rother bridge was another. Hoping that the 130th will be something special...

8th November. What An Ugly Bunch We Are

2011-11-08T20:34:00.015Z

Glancing at Eric Didner's Long-toed Stint photos I noticed a couple of things; One of which is that our Gallic neighbours can sort out Long-toed Stints a damn sight quicker than we can. The other ,even more obvious, was that the majority of French Twitchers don't quite resemble us Brits. I present my evidence below:

French Specimen 1 - Handsome Bastard!

British Specimen 1. The Elephant Man thought it best to cover up

French Specimen 2. One glance at this Clooney esq specimen will have Mrs Bagnell heading for the Ryan Air ticket desk.

British Specimen 2. And it'll take a bit more than a big list to lure her back!!

French Specimen 3. The bloke in the hat is clearly an English birder.

British Specimen 3. Dumb, Dumb and Dumber

French Specimen 4. "Bonjour Carmel"

British Specimen 4. Another Brit birder clearly too embarrassed to show his grotesque features, or is he merely secreting a pie!

So there we have it British birders are ugly. Our near European neighbours, whilst lacking in the number of rare, are clearly a bunch of handsome gits that must spend the best part of their time literally beating the birds off with a shitty stick.

I must point out that I was assisted with my research by my ever loving wife Jo and I am most definitely not on the turn, that said, specimen 2 is a bit of a looker.... Oh eck!!!

3rd November. Gripping Stuff

2011-11-03T13:56:00.005Z

The problem with being a working birder is that sooner or later retired/non working birders are eventually going to grip you off. Today proved to be one of these days, when I got a call saying Ray Platts had found a Grey Phalarope below the earth mound.

edit: It seems that Ray wasn't the original finder see comments below.

Fortunately I did manage to get down to Orgreave in my lunch. But the gripping (at least on a not finding things myself basis) continued when Andy found two Twite feeding exactly where I found last years Snow Buntings. Fortunately these also hung around long enough. Two species that would have fitted nicely on the SF Patch List - bugger!

Continuing the theme of me not only being unable to find anything (apart from stringy laridae) but also losing the ability to take decent photos (or any for that matter) here are a few crackers from Andy.

Tales Of The River Bank

2011-10-31T19:56:00.005Z

Bloody Hell it's all gone a bit Mods V Rockers down in the East Midlands, with disgruntled birders sparring with unhappy fishing folk. Talk of fishing trolleys getting lobbed in the river and birders cars threatened with vandalism. It must be true I read it on Birdforum

Since finding that dead Water Rail Tom had become an angry young man

Alongside some excellent birds this autumn has been one of conspiracy, violence, suppression, back stabbing, ridicule and hatred, well it has if you believe one particular individual!

31st October. Goodbye Ruby Monday

2011-10-31T18:36:00.007Z

Well it looks as though the Rubythroat has finally left the building or should that be garden. I can't lie, every single update on this bird has caused the bile from my stomach to rise to the back of my throat in an attempt to choke me. I started off being pleased that the bird had charmed my friends on Shetland, genuinely chuffed for them. Then it started to take the piss, parading around for anyone - totally de-valuing itself. In short it became cheap! I conjured with the idea of going this weekend gone but, despite offers from Russ to pick us up from the ferry and look for the bird on the Friday prior to our departure, it all turned to rat shit when the driver (for whatever reason) couldn't make it. So that was it I spent the last week getting gripped by long standing twitching mates and updates on Twitter.

So sorry if you left it until today and dipped but I for one am pleased that I can get on with my bloody life now.

Gulls galore

Rather pleased that the patch appears to be gathering a decent gull roost over the last couple of weeks. Saturday night produced a nice Caspian Gull - though given the high rejection rate (in Yorkshire) getting it past a committee will be a bigger challenge than the ID. Fortunately it put in an appearance at Redmires this morning (picture below at Redmires by Richard Hill).

Sunday night was more predictable with less large gulls though a 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull, found by Andy, was nice and I managed to pick a 2nd winter Med' Gull out of the black-heads. Photos below by Andy Deighton.

I've a sneaky feeling that this autumn might have one more major surprise up it's sleeve, fingers crossed

23rd October. Happy Birthday Beth

2011-10-23T21:04:00.007+01:00

Today I officially became the parent of a teenager. A good (birding) friend of mine once questioned my decision to have a child in October! This was something that crossed my mind when this weekend I simply couldn't consider either the Rubythroat or the Tanager. I wouldn't swap Beth for the world - she's a wonderful daughter so much so that even if I'd gone for either the aforementioned birds she'd have understood completely well deep down she's a birder at heart!

At just three she'd got to grips with the scope

Digiscoping at Seven

The day she renamed phalaropes as 'turnaround a bird'

Grilling a Citrine Wag' earlier this year.

Now is anyone up for that Rubythroat next weekend - if it sticks of course?

22nd October. Back for the Winter

2011-10-23T20:43:00.003+01:00

No twitching for me this weekend. Neither the Tanager or the Rubythroat were available to me. I didn't have the bottle to go for the former and with Beth's birthday on Sunday no time for the latter.

So again it was left to the patch to take my mind off everything else. First visit produced very little though 67 Pochard were notable. The afternoon visit was slightly better with a single Wheatear (my latest local bird ever) and that gull again! It still looks good for 4th winter Caspian Gull but I'm just waiting on a second opinion!

Pit-house West came up trumps in the evening with a male Stonechat and the Bittern heading to roost at dusk, the ninth successive winter for Bitterns at this site.

20th October. Back on the Patch

2011-10-23T20:20:00.003+01:00

First visit to Orgreave since before my Shetland trip, and one that I was very much in need of. The continuing presence of the Siberian Rubythroat (on Shetland) was starting to get to me and I very much needed to put my mind into something else, rather than the logistics of heading north again!

Orgreave was alive with birds - though mainly ducks and gulls so I set about scanning through the increasing flock of gulls. A nice adult Yellow-legged Gull appeared briefly and then shortly after I picked up a near adult Caspian Gull - it wasn't as straightforward as that though. I had left the camera in the house, the battery on my mobile was dead and worse still I literally had no lead (or at least very little) lead in my pencil! It ticked all the boxes i.e head shape, bill shape, primary pattern, wing length, eye colour (dark at a distance). I did manage to make some notes and hopefully should be able to put a decent description together for the YNU.

Despite the frustration it was good to get back on the patch.

18th October. KKK alive and well in Cornwall

2011-10-18T12:34:00.005+01:00

Shock revelations this week from the policeman of birding (and not a birding policeman) that the Kernow Killjoy Klan have once again been operating in the north of Cornwall. Apparently this 'crime' was committed in the Davidstow/Crowdy area where an apparent Semipalmated Plover slipped beneath every visiting twitchers radar, whilst it hid among the tundrae Ringed Plovers.

A full investigation by the IQ 40 is currently being carried out into the alledged activities of cult leader Christ Stanley.

"Psst Get yourself off to Rame in the morning my lover"

Personally I'd like to thank the KKK for helping me keep another British blocker on my list!

17th October. The Bigger Shetland Picture

2011-10-17T12:17:00.009+01:00

Black-headed Bunting, Pallid Harrier, Olive-backed Pipit, 2 self-found Barred Warblers, 6 Self-found Yellow-browed Warblers, 3 Rosefinch, Citrine Wagtail, American Golden Plover, Isabelline Shrike, Buff-bellied Pipit.... Not a bad haul really and if you'd just read that on Birdguides you'd probably be quite envious. That's not the true picture though. If you want to chase around looking at birds that someone else found then that's absolutely fine and as a result you could quite easily have seen all of the above and a few more besides. However if like Andy and me you like to try and find your own birds and explore new (well newish) ground then Shetland this year was a big let down.

We covered lots of ground on Unst some real cracking habitat with form. It wasn't the lack of rare it was the seemingly complete lack of everything. The truer picture is that apart for the aforementioned rares and to the best of my now hazy memory we saw just the following (migrants) throughout the entire trip; 7 Chiffchaffs, 3 Goldcrests, singles of Whinchat, Redstart, Pied Fly, Spot Fly, Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Garden Warblers, 6 Willow Warblers (a marked increase) and significantly less Blackcaps. Thoroughly working plantations or gardens when there's is no sign of life is just so bloody sole destroying.

Things got worse when we headed south, when not only was there a lack of migrants there was a massive increase in the number of 'twitching' birders. Never in my seven autumn visits have I seen so many visiting birders, to quote Andy it was like Scilly with cars. This brought our moral down even more but the dream team of Harvey, Riddington, Small and Garner finding a nearby Buff-bellied Pipit both raised our expectations and helped concentrate the rampant tickers in one place. We headed in the opposite direction!!

The following morning after listening to constant lashing wind and rain we eventually ventured out after a rousing call to arms from Martin who informed us of masses of thrushes arriving. Not quite the 'thousands' that we had expected but certainly an arrival. We spent the next few hours getting a proper battering around the familiar territory of Sumburgh Head and Farm for scant reward - in fact no reward.

The rest of our stay was pretty much the same i.e. no migrants and no new rares after HRSG's pipit and I can honestly say that by Wednesday morning I was glad to get on that plane (eventually) to Glasgow. However on reflection that's just the magic of Shetland you never know what your going to get and to be fair I've had much worse years. Perhaps It would be a little hasty for me to say that I won't be back next year?

Some of the usual favoured spots were this year very much out of bounds.

Norfolk in Chance

2011-10-15T09:44:00.002+01:00

Currently wandering around Warham with a miriad of expectant birders; though sadly most have already given up and others are wasting time blogging about it. The Rufous-tailed Robin&amp has probably either done one or - following a frost- is laying on it's back with it's feet in the air.

The rumour mill is already running with a story of how it was kept quiet and how more birders could have connected with it. Blah blah blah more shit for the forums.
In my experience the finder is a top bloke - the nicest of the Punkbirders - and deserves nothing but high praise for getting the news out. Had it been me it would have A taken me several hours to come to my senses and B significantly longer to scrape the shit from my underpants.
Birders! Some of you are just vile spiteful bastards!!

I'm off to walk to Wells for a nice cuppa and a spot of breakfast.

To HellUnst and Back

2011-10-08T19:17:00.013+01:00

Pay little attention to the previous two posts, they were written in the half light of a candle and uploaded using only a couple of rusty cans and a bit of string that I found discarded on a beach - that however doesn't excuse the content being crap.

So how was Unstd? In one word - windy. Never have I experienced such prolonged westerly winds whilst staying on Shetland. Consequently birds were few and far between and any hope of a Yank (sorry) was shattered by the amazing statistics quoted by my friend the Llama, who informed me that only three American land birds have ever been recorded on Unst.

Anyway technological difficulties aside Unst was challenging but mostly enjoyable. Lots of cracking rare bird habitat, but without the err rare birds - or in the case of some sites any birds. We managed to find a few minor scarce namely Rosefinch and Barred and Yellow-browed Warblers but that really was it. Unst is very nice, the people are very nice and welcoming some openly inviting you into their gardens.

We did see a couple of other people's rare finds.

A couple of trips to Fetlar - to relieve the tedium produced very little, though we did have cracking views of the juv Pallid Harrier as it hunted around Loch of Funzie (apparently pronounced finnie).

So as I said in an earlier post Unst will either be a triumph or a disaster, or something like that. Personally I don't think it was either just somewhere in between.

Still four days of this ~~Hell~~ trip to ~~endure~~ go and the weather ~~is looking f***@ng awful~~ isn't looking too favourable.

On the plus side some pastry delights were to be found, firstly en-route at Yell and on display in the Baltasound shop. The appearance of a Lasagne Pie in Brae raised moral, but like the rarities in south Mainland it had been around for a while!

Dr Llama being all optimistic on the way north

Though that all turned to rat shit when the wind set in!

Unst survival kit

Day 2

2011-10-04T15:29:00.001+01:00

After a half day of travelling and getting settled into our comfortable chalet at Baltasound our first full day of birding dawned sunny and windless. As soon as we stepped outside Andy picked up a ringtail harrier hunting in the adjacent field. A rather dark individual with orangey under parts but hefty looking with broad wings it proved to be a Hen Harrier a new bird for me on Shetland.

The plan for the day was to head north to Skaw then slowly work our way back south. We were warned by Martin that the farmer at Skaw is a bit grumpy so with that in mind we stuck to the paths and decided against walking the burn. As a result the only bird we saw was a Garden Warbler.
At Valyie, Norwick it was obvious that there had been a bit of a clear out with only one Yellow-browed compared to at least 5 the previous evening. However a couple of Barred Warblers were new in and Andy picked up a couple of Rosefinch in the oat crop.

Returning to Baltasound we covered the immediate gardens and the Helligarth plantation. Again more evidence of an exodus with just a Willow Warbler and a few Chaffinches!
Having briefly caught up with the Black-headed Bunting at Belmont on our way north yesterday we headed back for seconds and eventually had good views of it among the local sparrows.

A return visit to Norwick produced pretty much the same birds as earlier and another ring-tail Hen Harrier was a more typical bird than the early morning one.

Unstable

2011-10-03T10:35:00.001+01:00

So begins our ‘intrepids’ trip to Unst or Unstable as the predictive text would tell you. Flights went as planned and on time and we arrived at Sumburgh just before 11am. Picking up the hire car we called in at Rob’s for a quick cuppa, where Dave found the first Yellow-browed of the trip.
Tea drunk we headed north via Tesco after dropping Dave off at Cunnisburgh. On our way through Voe a large grey warbler flew over the car – it was obviously a Barred Warbler and a quick U-turn proved us right. Hanging around for the Yell ferry we received a call from Dave who’s team – who will from now refer to as Team Smurf (after the cornflower blue house they’re staying in) – rang to let us know they had just re-found the Alpine Swift! Unperturbed we carried on with our journey northwards taking in the first pie of the trip a Johnson and Wood egg and bacon.

Connecting easily with the Unst Ferry we soon arrived at our chalet in Baltasound where we immediately discovered two things; Vodaphone and O2 don’t work and the prearranged unlocked door to the chalet was not unlocked. After enquiring with the family next door who kindly took us to the key holder we finally got in, dropped our stuff then finally went and did some birding.

The gardens around Norwick were our choice and an hour or so in the rain produced 5 Yellow-browed, 2 Brambling, Sparrowhawk and a Garden Warbler. The lack of any sort of phone signal created an intense feeling or paranoia and worse still meant that we couldn’t contact each other if either of us had anything interesting. Without the 21st century’s technology this really is back to basics birding!

24th September. The Week Before Shetland

2011-09-26T07:22:00.006+01:00

The week before my Shetland trip came up with the goods once again with a cracking adult Sandhill Crane at Loch of Strathbeg, Aberdeenshire. With the last bird, on Orkney foiling my plans by departing, this was a welcome pull back.

Back on the patch things have been very quiet with no waders since last weekends Ruff. A couple of fugitive Ruddy Ducks paid a brief visit last week, a valuable patch tick of this now scarce duck.

21st September. Intrepid?

2011-09-21T13:14:00.002+01:00

Apparently I'm intrepid! Not my words or the words of anyone that knows me but the words of LGRE who in his latest 'Scillies is rubbish these days' posting said "A few intrepids prefer the tranquility of Shetland or the Outer Hebrides in their quest for that dreamt-of find". Actually the reason that I go is because I hate the sight of hundreds of birders swarming over everything from Black Redstart* upwards. So with the swelling numbers of ex Scilly birders heading North next month Andy AKA The Leicester Llama and I have moved camp to the far north i.e. Unst. It's an experiment that might go hideously wrong - it might be a birding triumph. Whatever it is one thing is certain we won't have the crowds like last year - at one point there were at least eight of us watching the Issy Shrike ridiculous!

Bizarrely LGRE's comments have come following the biggest deluge of American birds to hit the archipelago this century!!

Being intrepid in 2007!

9th September. Siberian First

2011-09-09T18:44:00.006+01:00

It seems that autumn is well and truly here now, the leaves are turning, the days getting shorter and a good few rares turning up - with some very appetizing looking Atlantic storms coming across in the next few days.

Back down the patch each morning this week produced a couple of useful self-found year ticks, namely Black Tern and Curlew Sandpiper. The latter was a site tick for me, coming just a couple of days after Roy found one. The tern however is behaving in the same manner as last years bird i.e. sticking around and touring Orgreave, Treeton and RVCP. As evening visits are becoming difficult, and frankly frustrating due to the high number of oblivious dog walkers, I've been increasing efforts during the morning usually doing a couple of laps before eventually leaving for work - fortunately I have an understanding (birding) boss and a healthy flextime account. If there is a birding God then surely I'm due a reward - a nice Buff-breast, Pec or Sab's Gull ought to do it, I'd even settle for another Leach's Petrel (though one that avoids the clutches of the local Sparrowhawks) here's hoping.

Woke up this morning (which is useful) and did what every smartphone addict does - check Twitter/Facebook and my emails - are smartphones the 21st century's answer to the early morning fag? To my delight whilst I had been sleeping my British list had taken another step closer to 500 with a tweet from the BOURC chairman saying that among others Siberian Stonechat had been split - hurrah (though strictly speaking not until January). So the bird I saw 21 years ago, at Flamborough North Landing and infact the only one I've ever seen, becomes the first species on my list with Siberian in its name - though hopefully not for long.

4th September. You can come out now he's gone

2011-09-04T20:43:00.006+01:00

Spent the last two weeks at the southern tip of the UK - St Just. This was the annual family holiday and not at all a birding trip. Despite this I did manage to see a small selection of rare and some scarce, but best of all I managed a lifer! A lifer? Was I privileged enough to see a suppressed gem in one of the Cornish valleys? No this was a proper tarts tick! After twenty years of trying (though not every year) I finally caught up with Great Shearwater. To make it less tarty it was a self-found tick my first since 1993 - when I found a Black-winged Pratincole at Nanquidno - which I actually cocked up as a Collared so perhaps that doesn't count. Enough rambling here's some shit photos.

Bonneli's Warbler Polgigga

Baird's Sandpiper

Some nice showey Med Gulls at Sennen

Tame Fox at Porthgwarra

and of course some pastry based savouries.

However the point of the post title was that almost as soon as I'd hooked up the caravan onto the back of the car, and headed north, the birds came out to play. The wandering Black Kite wandered within viewing distance of the camp site, a couple of Pec Sands appeared but most dissappointing of all was the 2,000 Great Shearwaters past Porthgwarra during the afternoon - making my single bird look slightly pathetic. However you never forget your first and the memory of my Great Shearwater shearing lazily inside of the Runnlestone Bouy was for me easily worth as much as those 2,000.

Thanks

2011-08-13T19:30:00.002+01:00

Thanks to everyone who has so far signed the petition, some really good comments in there keep them coming.

All future information and any developments will appear on a separate page accessed by the link above.

11th August. Chinese Whispers

2011-08-11T20:21:00.013+01:00

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO THE RIGHT AND HELP PRESERVE PIT-HOUSE WEST

If you've got more time on your hands write to the leader of Rotherham Council and make your feelings known leader@rotherham.gov.uk

Chinese Theme Park Threatens Pit-house West

As reported several weeks back plans are afoot for the development of a Chinese Theme park on the Pit-house West site adjacent to Rother Valley Country Park. Most local birders will be aware of the history of Pit-house West (PHW) that after several years of opencast it was sympathetically landscaped in preparation for it being absorbed into the adjacent country park.

Looking south towards the Chinese Bridge (ironic that we call it that!)Looking west towards the 'Bittern' Pool from the extensive gorse bank

For over a decade the site began to mature alongside the existing water courses and woodland. A reedbed steadily grew and within a several years attracted its first wintering Bittern albeit a rather elusive individual. At least one Bittern has wintered there for the last nine winters usually arriving in September and departing in mid March.

Birds are the main attraction at this site with notable records over the years including the first record of Cetti's Warbler in the Sheffield area, Firecrest, Bearded Tit, Hobby, Woodcock, 3 species of Owl, 3 species of Woodpecker and Woodlark. There are several birds featured on the RSPB's Red List that breed at PHW namely Grey Partridge, Lapwing, Cuckoo, Skylark, Song Thrush, Grasshopper Warbler, Willow Tit, Linnet, Lesser Redpoll and Yellowhammer, any kind of development would have an adverse affect on these.

There's plenty of other wildlife with a good population of Grass Snakes, Smooth Newt, Common Frog, Pygmy Shrew, Common Shrew, Water Shrew, Brown Hare, Stoat, Weasel, Badger and Fox (these are just the ones that I've found).

All the above pictures have been taken at Pit-house West over the last few years. RMBC are desperate to offload the site because they can't afford to maintain the public footpaths, fences and basically look after the site - a site that was given to them by British Coal, who presumably as part of a deal to extract the coal were required to restore the land.

Is it too much to ask that Pit-house West remains as public-open space not just for birders but for everyone? Do we really need a Chinese Theme Park in Rotherham? Do we really need 380 more minimum wage jobs? The Rother Valley had over a hundred years of heavy industry and heavy pollution, industries that created real jobs and communities around them. What's there now is a legacy of those industries. Actually it's not a legacy it's a thank you, a thank you for those years that we took from the land. To put it back to what it is today is an achievement to take that away would be a bloody disgrace.

Please take a moment to sign the petition. If you've got more time on your hands write to the leader of Rotherham Council and make your feelings known leader@rotherham.gov.uk

7th August. The Pies Have It

2011-08-08T12:14:00.007+01:00

One or two returning waders over the last week - actually 5 Greenshank, 3 Whimbrel, a couple of Black-tailed Godwits and a handful of Common Sands - raised some hope that the big (ish) one was just around the corner. Sadly it wasn't, so I had to settle for a very plastic looking Red-crested Pochard. Pete proclaimed that eclipse males actually look more plastic (than any other plumage state) as you have a brown duck with a stupid looking red bill that looks like it's been glued on by a child. Despite looking shit it made itself onto the SF list - as Roy would say "they're all the same size on the list."

Desperate for a change of venue and some decent birds we had a run out to Old Moor and Blacktoft on Saturday - we did at least have the change of venue!

The trip to Old Moor was however just a cover for a spot of, what I can only describe as pie twitching. I received a tip off some months back from the Bard of Broomhill that the best pork pies were to be found at Elmhursts in Goldthorpe. So with Old Moor not opening until 9:30 (which frankly is shit) we diverted to the former mining town of Goldthorpe armed with only a pocket full of change. Being Barnsley's equivalent of the Wild West I stayed and guarded the car whilst Jo went in for the savoury delights on offer.

Note the window full of pies

Jo returned with 4 small (8cm diameter) pies and a large pork and black pudding pie, the sum total of which was £5! We had clearly been undercharged or do they still operate in 'old money' in the Dearne Valley. True to my information the pork pies were tremendous, but the pork and black was outstanding, quite possibly the greatest pie I have ever eaten.

I ate all the pies

6th August. Birdguides iPhone App

2011-08-06T18:18:00.012+01:00

I heard a while ago that Birdguides had a new clever iPhone app up there sleeve that would blow the socks off any of the competition. So when it was officially released yesterday I jumped in and paid the £5 Bird News Anywhere fee (for 1 month).

First impressions are a little mixed, with some good features and some lacking ones

Firstly it gives you the ability to filter your alerts, much the same as the Birdguides web access does. That way you don't have to trawl through a wedge of minor scarce to get to the good stuff.

The 'recent' feature gives you everything reported

Setting the filter is straightforward.

And you only see what you want

A 'report' feature makes it very easy to submit all your sightings, removing the *gibbering idiot from rarity reports left on answer machines. I tried this feature last night on a handful of Yellow-legged Gulls and Red-crested Pochard at Orgreave, within five minutes they had appeared.

*I hate talking to answerphones and phoning a rare in when your adrenalin is pumping is even worse. I think most panicking birders, breaking the news, probably sound like Boomhauer from King of the Hill.

The killer feature for this app is the 'nearby' feature. Using the iPhones built in GPS it selects all the records that are, as the feature states' nearby. I can imagine this being very useful particularly for holidays and day trips.

Now the downside:

No Push Notifications. With this feature Birdguides would have created an app that would have sounded the death knell for the pager - at least for those pager holders with iPhones. I can't deny that when I saw the app advertised I did think this is it, a dedicated bird news app that I can setup notifications to text me when a mega is reported. Downloading the app, which is free by the way, and paying my £5 (BNA monthly fee) I clicked on the settings icon only to find that the expected notifications setting wasn't there. I was slightly disappointed to say the least and without this feature feel that apart from the 'nearby' feature it's just an easier navigable version of the Birdguides website. I could of course subscribe to the text alert as well for another £40 per annum.

In fairness, I mentioned this to one of the Birdguides staff who suggested that push notifications will be available when Apple release iOS 5. However rumour has it that iOS5 won't run on 3G and 3GS iPhones! So if you want the ultimate news service it looks like an upgrade to an iPhone 4 will be on the cards. Also in the meantime it doesn't look like Android users will get a look in, though given the popularity of these a compatible app must surely be in the pipeline.

The photo gallery is a nice touch if you're sat on the bus and want to look at some nice pictures, but other than that I can't help that the effort put into it could have been spent elsewhere.

In conclusion.

A smart app that lets you submit sightings, instantly find what's nearby and an excellent filter system. But let down by the lack of push notifications and availability to only iPhone users. At least for the foreseeable future I'll stick with the Birdnet Twitter service. However those already subscribed to Birdguides will find this app a real bonus.

If you've managed to get this far down (it did get a bit techie a few paragraphs back) click HERE for a review of the Birdnet Twitter service I did last year.

29th July. "Hello. Is that Norris McWhirter?"

2011-07-29T21:23:00.011+01:00

"Dedication, dedication, dedication that's what yer need..." was what the late Roy Castle would sing just before he'd get down on his knee and do that Al Johnson bit "if you wanna be a record breaker... yeah" Even at nine years old I was a cynical bastard and would shout back (admittedly in my head) "bollocks, the best way to break a record is to come up with something that no sane person on earth would think of like err how many black jelly babies can you shove up your arse!

So the point of the last paragraph (apart from perhaps the chance to get a few weak laughs) was that today I broke a record and just like some of those freaks on Record Breakers I too made it up. Today I broke my Orgreave self-found year list record - woo hoo. Last year I managed a total of 120 species - now lets not get too excited I could have a good day out in Norfolk and beat that. But lets put it into context, Orgreave is a barren wasteland stuck next to the M1 slap bang between Sheffield and Rotherham and more famous for it's rioting miners than birding. I thought that I'd had a good year last year and had settled for equalling this year at best, so to beat it before August was surprising to say the least.

So at 6 this morning, when scanning the gulls at the northern shore of the large lake I picked up a flock of roosting terns. Aware of several parties of Arctic Terns in the Midlands over the last few days I set up the scope and sure enough was faced with not only the 120th species this year but also a site tick a total of 15 Arctics. They didn't stay long but treated me to a close flypast before heading northwest - though a couple did return. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was again present along with a juvenile. A return visit this evening produced species 121 with 3 imm/fem Common Scoters and one of the Arctic Terns. I've a feeling this autumns going to be a good one.

So back to Roys opening line. I suppose, if I hadn't got the dedication that I've had this year I'd still be chasing that target - now where did I put those Jelly Babies.

Oh Amy if only you'd stuck to Jelly Babies.

25th July. Scream For Me Sheffield

2011-07-25T20:48:00.005+01:00

Realised one of my things to do before I die ambitions yesterday. I finally got to see the mighty Iron Maiden. Thinking that they were probably past their best and most likely ever so slightly Spinal Tap, I was more than happy to be proven wrong - so very wrong. In the words of my cyber (or should that be Cider) friend Tom M "Maiden Flipping Rock" In fact it was Tom's writing and general man love of all things Maiden that lead to me becoming reacquainted with the music of my youth. Thanks Tom you twat.

The only downside was whilst walking round Orgreave this morning, I couldn't hear a thing apart from a strange whooshing noise in my ears!

The Trooper

Steve Harris, bass playing God with the energy of a teenager

23rd July. Chip Off The Old Block

2011-07-25T20:36:00.003+01:00

In a shock move Beth said she'd go out birding with me this morning. She wasn't even phased when I said I was going out before seven am and set her alarm for six. After doing a circuit of Orgreave, where three adult Yellow-legged Gulls showed well, Beth insisted on walking the extra distance to Morrisons for a pie! Following a couple of excellent steak pies we walked the Rother towards Whiston. We saw nothing of note except for a bit of graffiti chalked on the motorway bridge.

20th July. Little Egret

2011-07-25T20:15:00.004+01:00

With an apparent Little Egret influx it was no surprise that Orgreave finally pulled in it's first of the year (on Wednesday) only to be followed by a second bird (that I failed to see) ten minutes later. I'd almost written off any chance of one this year as I figured that the Arctic conditions at the back end of last year had either pushed all the northern birds south or worse still frozen them to death.

16th July. Can't Believe It's Not Better

2011-07-16T11:29:00.005+01:00

Successfully managed an early morning circuit of Orgreave every morning for the last week with a couple of evening visits thrown in for good measure. Not a great deal of new stuff but a steady build up of Lesser Black-backed Gulls pulled in the first Yellow-legged Gull, an adult on the 13th. Coincidentally the same date as the first (also an adult) last year - creatures of habit?

Other than that it's been pretty dull - hopefully things will get better over the next few weeks.

"or you'll have someones eye out"

I often got told off as a child, but one of the things that stuck in my mind was that if I waved things about in the air I would have someones eye out. This usually referred to rubber bands, blades of grass and sticks with dog shit on the end! Nowhere did my parents warn me of the dangers of messing about with injured birds.

It would seem that no one else was warned about the danger of birds either - particularly those with big stabby beaks - after some bloke lost sight in one eye from a dying Gannet. I'm sure that when he went to pick it up he was more concerned about the animals welfare than his own and to be fair probably didn't think that the bird had the strength to lift its head let alone lunge at him.

So it fills me with despair and not a great deal of surprise that another human being - admittedly at the lowest end of the evolutionary scale - would make a comment, on a popular forum like this; "Anyone who picks up a bird with a bloody big, sharp beak and doesn't think "I'm going to get a good grip on that bugger" deserves all that happens to them." and this "I love how you are all acting like it was you who had your eye pecked out. Its an eye the guy isn't gonna have difficulties in day to day activities and its not like I'm calling him a w**ker he just should have been more cautious and before any of you say, I do have a missing body part so I know it isn't a big deal." No prizes for guessing which missing body part!

Poor chap I hope he isn't filled with as much hatred as some of the pond life on Bird Forum!!

7th July 2011. China Syndrome

2011-07-07T12:52:00.008+01:00

Having done an early morning tour of Orgreave, where an impressive total of 17 LRP's was the highlight, I settled into the journey to work. Engrossed in my Metro and the heinous goings on at News International I was distracted by a text from Andy telling me to listen to Radio Sheffield. They were apparently running a story about new plans for a development at Pit-house West - a Chinese theme park. You really couldn't make it up!

One of the attractions already confirmed:

The Tiananmen Tank Challenge. How long will your nerve hold, as you line up in front of a fleet of heavily armed artillery, threatening to crush your very existence, shopping bags provided.

To quote Toby Foster (Radio Sheffield presenter and former Phoenix Nights drummer)

"All attractions free except Tibet"

Unlike the doomed YES project this new scheme has applied for over 5 million of government money. Can't help thinking of this classic Simpsons sketch when it comes to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council's planning board meetings.

4th July. Thank Flip

2011-07-05T13:29:00.004+01:00

Despite being almost 42 I still get told off for swearing by my parents and the memories of having my mouth washed out by a crusty bar of imperial leather will live with me forever - so flip it is!

With the exception of the first week, June has been a terrible month. A month that has seen me spending even more time in veterinary waiting rooms, wasting my life reading 'that thread' on Birdforum and doing very little birding.

July couldn't come around quick enough - but eventually it did. Throwing myself back into the birding before work regime, I scored on my first attempt with a Greenshank heading south over Orgreave. Great this is it autumn begins.

Pumped full of enthusiasm I did a return visit in the evening and scored a pair of Pochard and a site first!

Great White Dogs Eggs

Look out for a full ID feature on Birding Blogs, where Tom Mckinney will explain how to separate Greater from Lesser with the help of a plopagram graph thingy.

5th June. Day 5 Monfrague again

2011-06-25T19:01:00.012+01:00

Heading out to Monfrague at dawn we picked up a reasonably close Black Vulture feeding on fresh carrion just outside Torrejon.

Arriving just before 8am at the Castillo de Monfrague we were greeted by a reception party of at least half a dozen Hawfinch. Opting to view from the aerials instead of the top of the castle I soon picked up three White-rumped Swifts increasing to six before we left. Apparently they are becoming much commoner.
A couple of birders were already present when we arrived (an ex Brit and his Spanish son) and we were joined by another who informed us of a Imperial Eagle nest viewable at about half a mile away. Eventually he re-found it, distant and shrouded in heat haze (note how the excuses are building) a large dark raptor with a paler head was clearly visible. After watching it doing very little for a few minutes I was approached by the ex pat who exclaimed that he couldn't find the eagles nest and was it anywhere near the Black Vultures - oops!! I felt a right prick but consoled myself that it was miles away, hazy and that I shouldn't have got taken in by that other birder. I knew that things weren't right when the conversation between the ex pat and his son switched from English/Spanish to total Spanish. The whole Spanish conversation continued after the cock up but I did manage to identify a couple of Spanish words, one of which was the Spanish for incompetent. Incompetente!! Fortunately I redeemed myself shortly after, by picking up a real Imperial Eagle which perched up not too far away.

Dropping down to the Pena Falcon view point I bumped into the English /Spanish pair again and soon forgave the 'incompetente' dig when the young lad picked up a cracking Black Wheatear on one of the nearby rocks. Also a nest full of Black Stork young and a nice Blue Rock Thrush.

By now the locals were arriving in droves for their weekend recreation and making the equivalent noise of several coach loads - my only criticism of the Spanish is that they all talk very loudly! With this in mind we headed back to the hotel for a kip and a wander around Trujillo before going to Belen in the evening.

4th June. Extremadura Day 4. The Plains

2011-06-12T16:41:00.012+01:00

Dawn start and we headed for the plains near Santa Marta. Taking the track marked as 'A' as far as we could safely go and walking the rest of the way to a suitable view point. It would appear that this spring has been a wet one as the grass here was far higher than I have experienced before, thus it made finding Little Bustard and Sandgrouse near impossible. We did however pick up 5 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse passing overhead. Apart from a distant female and chick Great Bustard and the only Short-toed Lark of the trip the rest was hugely disappointing and even more so when we took the track marked as B. The visit to this site was more memorable for the absence of birds e.g. Montagu's Harrier, so we headed to Belen before the heat haze took hold.

Belen on the other hand was much more rewarding. A total of 14 Great Bustards including a displaying male, Stone Curlews and a group of vultures (Black and Griffon) descending on carrion.

Lots of larks on the fence posts as we drove slowly along the deteriating road, giving me a chance to compare Crested and Thekla and appreciate the hugeness of Calandra, the latter frustratingly failed to pose for photos.

Thekla showing the typically shorter and straight bill, cone like crest and heavy bold streaking on the breast.
Following a quick breakfast and a supermarket stop (for picnic items) we were soon back out and heading for the plains further south where we picked up a few trip ticks namely Black-eared Wheatear, Roller and the only Montagu's Harrier of the trip!

Returning to Trujillo we spent a little time around the bull ring watching the Lesser Kestrels.

Before returning to Belen in the evening.

Ridiculously close views of Great Spotted Cuckoo again

Easily the commonest bird on the plains

12th June. Intermission

2011-06-12T10:48:00.010+01:00

Just got in from a couple of hours at Orgreave (where it was surprisingly better than I anticipated 7 Redshanks, 6 Common Terns, 7 Ringed Plover and 3 Dunlin) only to foolishly follow a link to a story in the Torygraph.

Not sure what's going on in birding these days, but like all walks of life the media jump on the negative aspect bandwagon. This is not news, I'm sure that all pastimes attract some form of 'bother' at some stage - christ football fans have been hacking themselves to bits for decades. Is it because people think of birdwatchers as quiet, studious, laid back members of society whose only interest is marvelling over the beauty of birds? Bollocks the 'Birdwatcher', 'Twitcher', 'Birder', 'Dude' call it what you will comes from every walk of life, from the low life drug dealer to members of parliament (one of which is currently at her majesty's pleasure). The image of us all being flower sniffing anorak wearing saddos is and has always been wrong. When we congregate in large groups (flocks) there will be incidents and there always has been.

A scene from Spurn in the 1980's, where the annual end of spring barbecue turned ugly when it was revealed that Tengmalm's Owls really did taste like chicken!

In 25 years of twitching I've witnessed; fighting, verbal and physical threats including one with a knife, abuse at photographers and from photographers, stories of reserve wardens being struck with tripods, abuse hurled at and from dog walkers, situations where normally mild-mannered individuals lose it (a young Richard F' threatening to rip some blokes head off at the Felixstowe White-throated Sparrow, if he didn't shift was hilarious!) even I've been threatened with violence - for an article I once wrote in a local newsletter - I know unbelievable!!

As for hoaxing. That goes back even before the dawn of mainstream birding - who among us isn't aware of that wiley old fox George Bristow and the Hastings Rarities.

The real fact is that someone out there is desperately trying to make this hobby of ours fashionable, to turn it in to the new rock n roll, where aggressive celebrity wannabee birders get their name in the press at every given opportunity fueling their ego and dragging this hobby that we all love into the gutter press.

Yeah I'm a Rock n Roll star

And finally.

To quote Bill Oddie in the original Little Black Bird Book printed some thirty years ago; 'Birdwatchers are tense,competitive, selfish, shifty, dishonest, distrusting, boorish, pedantic, unsentimental, arrogant and - above all - envious.'

3rd June. Extremadura Day 3. Touristy

2011-06-11T12:59:00.010+01:00

A later than normal start today with a relaxing days sightseeing around Montanchez and Merida, with a little bit of birding thrown in for good measure.

According to the Crossbill Guide the Moorish castle at Montanchez holds Black Wheatear. We failed on our visit but took consolation in finding a roosting Eagle Owl on the cliff below the castle.

Merida

Famed for its impressive Roman ruins Merida is a must if you got half a day or so to spare.

Merida Aqueduct

The Ampitheatre and Roman Theatre at Merida

Even managed a few birds around this busy city with the only Alpine Swifts of the trip and numerous Herons including three cracking adult Squaccos and a light phase Booted Eagle.

2nd June. Extremadura Day 2. Monfrague

2011-06-11T11:36:00.007+01:00

Jo's birthday today so I gave her the choice of what to do. She didn't opt for the usual girly things like shopping, spa or drinking wine, she wanted only one thing - to see Eagle Owl (if Carlsberg made wives!). So with a quick breakfast and provisions packed in to the coolbag we headed towards the natural park of Monfrague.

Crossing the Rio Almonte, just outside Torrejon el Rubio, we stopped to explore the area for amphibians and perhaps a few reptiles. Exiting the car I picked up a couple of large raptors which I instantly recognised as a pair of Bonnelli's Eagles. Having only seen one before and missing them on my last trip I was delighted to pick them up without any effort (or frustration).

Snaking our way beyond Torrejon we headed up to the Castillo de Monfrague. With already a few people up here and worse still a huge party of school children on their way up this was going to be a short visit. Despite being a short midday visit we still managed a couple of White-rumped Swifts, but little else.

The heat was becoming a problem by now so we did what the Spanish do and stuck the car under an olive tree and had a couple of hours.

Woke at four with the heat still very oppressive so we looked at our options and decided to leave Monfrague, visit the wetland reserve at Almaraz then return to Monfrague for the Eagle Owls.

Almaraz is probably the best place at the moment for seeing Black-winged Kites - another species that eluded me on my last visit - and it certainly did come up with the goods when I stumbled across one by the roadside. Unfortunately it immediately flew off. Finding the information centre at Saucedilla we acquired a hide key from the attractive young lady (nothing like those old boilers that work at RSPB reserves) at the desk. Something that we noticed about Extremadura as that almost every visitor attraction is free! We spent a couple of hours driving from one hide to the other - none of that walking rubbish - enjoying great views of Little Bittern, Purple Gallinule, Great Reed Warbler and eventually a pair of Black-winged Kites.

After a great couple of hours we headed back into Monfrague. I've seen Eagle Owl during both previous visits, but they've never been easy and I've only seen juveniles in near darkness. So walking up to the viewpoint at 9pm I was delighted when the Spanish couple we'd met earlier pointed at their scope and said, "Bubo". This adult bird performed well for over an hour delighting us with it's massiveness and beautiful amber eyes. Happy Birthday Jo.

1st June. Extremadura Day One

2011-06-09T19:54:00.010+01:00

To most established birders Extremadura is probably a bit old hat now, but for me this was my third trip and I was just as excited as I had been on the first visit. Despite already having seen everything that would be on offer I was very much looking forward to the whole experience.

As usual a nice straightforward Easyjet flight to Madrid from Luton (£127 return for two) hire car from Hertz (£160 including full excess waiver) tohether with a hotel room (hostal) in Trujillo (£40 a night including breakfast) made for a very low cost birding trip.

Arriving in Trujillo at 2pm we had a spot of lunch, a quick nap then out for a spot of birding at one of my favourite spots - the Belen Plains. Though dragging ourselves away from the excellent view across the square, where we could enjoy Storks, Lesser Kestrels and a 50-50 mix of Pallid and Common Swift, was difficult.

Room with a view

Don't believe the guide books the Belen Plains are the mutts nuts and I've always enjoyed far more success here than the Santa Marta Plains. This couple of hours was no exception. We enjoyed excellent views of a female Great Bustard with its chick, a good selection of raptors including 2 Short-toed Eagles, dark phase Booted Eagle and a Honey Buzzard. Countless Bee-eaters, Hoopoes, Stone Curlews and many more.

Highlight though was a couple of showy Great-spotted Cuckoos, that Jo found whilst I was concentrating on the pot-holed filled road - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Retiring to our hotel mid-evening gave me a chance to have a nosey at the next-door neighbours whilst enjoying a particulalrly good Rioja.

7th June. Hanging on in Hartlepool

2011-06-07T20:21:00.006+01:00

Wind back 24 hours. Leaving our hotel in Trujillo, after an incredibly successful six days I was distracted by a text - distracted and subsequently distraught - 'White-throated Robin at Hartlepool!' Well there was bugger all I could do about it, our return flight wasn't due out of Madrid until 10pm. We spent the rest of the day as planned stopping at a few sites en-route. I tried to take my mind off the Robin but the barrage of gloating texts didn't make it easy. I had to console myself with Black-winged Kites, Red-necked Nightjars and a few specialities of the Spanish Steppe.

Constant texts continued to torment me through the day - yes I could have switched it off - and I made up my mind that I would go the following day on positive news. Our 10pm flight was delayed to almost 12am- following the biggest thunderstorm that I've ever seen - and our eventual arrival home at 3:30am didn't bode well for an early start. Almost wishing the bird to have gone in the clear night sky (the fatigue was taking hold) I was soon on my way when after just 3 hours sleep a text came through confirming that it had hung on for at least another day -phew!

27th May. Least of My Worries

2011-05-27T20:32:00.010+01:00

Forcing myself out of bed at 5am, probably for the penultimate time this month due to the depleting number of migrants, I reluctantly made my way to Orgreave. Despite the previous day producing one or too decent birds, namely Sanderling and Turnstone, this morning was more typical of late may/early June i.e. very little of note. Added to this my mind was elsewhere, being more concerned about the rather bad limp that one of the cats had developed over the last couple of days and the subsequent damage that it would do to my bank account. If any one ever tells you not to bother with pet insurance ignore them as they are clearly insane - more on that

later.

Early evening and news of a Least Sandpiper at Old Moor - now I know why the old boys used to call it Wath Mecca- coincided conveniently with dropping Beth at Guides, as had the Stone Curlew a few weeks previously. The hide was full on arrival but fortunately this smallest of the Calidris showed very well in front of the hide, amply making up for missing out on the previous two Yorkshire birds.

Without doubt the worst photo you will ever see of a Least Sand (or any other bird for that matter) don't go searching the Internet you won't find one any worse!

Seeing the Least Sandpiper at Wath brought back memories of the unfortunate incident of the only Sheffield record. It was at Middleton Moor back in 1988 - for whatever reason it was suppressed (frankly I don't really care) but it was as a result of this that one Wath regular penned an hilarious limerick about an infamous birder from the North Midlands - can't say too much there's probably the 1980's equivalent of a super injunction on that one! If anyone has that logbook I would dearly love to read it again - the cartoon of another birders wellies hanging out of the aforementioned's arse was almost as funny.

Back to the cat. It appears he's been shot and it's going to cost the best part of half a pair of Leica's to get him right - yet again the Devil vomits in my kettle, though some might say I deserve it!

Well I suppose the local nestling's will be safe!!

I've been neglecting the pie stuff lately, though my belly tells a different story, so thanks to Dave Mack here's something from local ukulele band The Everly Pregnant Brothers.