4th October. Eastern Promise

The sound of rain beating on the window at first light made it all the more easy to stay in bed this morning, however after an hour or so the rain had stopped and the wind dropped.  After dicking around with clothing, webcams and boots the Llama and I decided to do the adjacent area. Almost immediately Andy picked up a Yellow-browed which I got on straight away despite poncing around with my wellies. It promptly dissapeared never to be seen again. As I set out along the shore of the POV Rob rang to say he'd just had a Bluethroat in the garden which had presumably come out of a hole in the ground as we'd already checked it four times. This also  vanished forever.  The rest of the day was spent checking crop fields, ditches and Iris beds to no avail though it was noted that more migrants were in e.g Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Chiffchaffs, several Chaffinch and 4 Snow Buntings not much but apparently a big improvement.  The day finished nicely when I found a Common Rosefinch in the crop within brick chucking distance of Rob's house - perhaps we would have been more succesful sitting on the bench outside?

It's not all bad though, there's some serious rares on here at the moment and a look at RBA will show you that all the good stuff is on Shetland. Unfortunately it's mostly up north, though with the threat of some easterlies during the next week our time will come - hopefully.

 

Fitfull Head (west side)

With the shops shut a tasty substitute for pies was found!

3rd October. Shetland 2009 Day 1.

Myself and the Llama arrived at Birmingham Airport in good time only to be  robbed by those bastards Flybe for a total of £48 for being just 4kg over weight my bag that is). Plotting my revenge we headed north. The flight to Sumburgh was full of twitchy types heading for the Whalsay Veery and the Tiaga Fly'. Smug in the knowledge that I needed neither (even my mum's seen Veery) I couldn't help feeling superior knowing what pain they were going through.

Arrived at a surprisingly calm and mild Sumburgh at 12:10 - headed to Rob's and drank tea. Spent the rest of the day loosely checking old familiar sites in South Mainland, where by late afternoon it had begun to rain heavily turning to heavy drizzle with a brief northeasterly draught.

Bird Highlights - none

Pies - Ham and Egg Slice at Mainlands a mediocre offering earning only 5 points.

2nd September. North bound.

Deciding to call in at Orgreave, on my final day before Shetland, paid off in the form of a Fem/juv Scaup among the Tufties. The first decent bird in too long.

The lure of Shetland is strong and the urge to get up to my nuts in those ditches is filling me with enthusiasm.  The weather charts are being ignored and with the current conditions depositing Veerys all over the shop optimismn is set at high and the rareometer (whatever happened to that) jammed on monster. The excitement is so high I can barely type.

Edit.  Pechora Pipit in Rob's garden and one on Whalsay. You might as well screw those weather maps up and use them as shit paper!!!

More tomorrow (if I actually get there).............................................

28th September. Seaside Waders

Spent the afternoon on Filey Brigg. Whilst Jo and Beth spent their time rockpooling I spent mine crawling around on my belly stalking the photogenic waders.

29th September. The kiss of death.

Seems my email to the finder of the Sandhill Crane has had a Jonah effect. I only enquired about the transport possibilities from Kirkwall and it seems to have taken offence. Meanwhile whilst it continues its journey, south, southeast,southwest etc, I can only hope that it settles down for a good few hours within striking range before my trip north.

I won't mention the current magic seaweedforecast for Shetland, in case I put the kiss of death on that as well.

25th September. Prozac Time

For the land locked birder this autumn (so far) has been hard with little or no reward. However over the last few months the number of quality rares has been pretty outstanding. The only downside being that few of them have stayed for any length of time or have been on far flung islands. The only 'stayers' springing to mind are the Crested Lark at Dunge' - which I missed by forty minutes and the current mega the Sandhill Crane which is frustratingly just too close to my Shetland trip to justify such a long haul. Added to this the gripping photos of 'that Puffin', missing the Royal Tern and one of those bastard Bee-eaters (that I can't even bring myself to name) there's no wonder that things are starting to get to me it has been almost one year since my last lifer - the Flamborough Brown Shrike.

I know I'm not alone, even those in the tradtional hotspots are feeling the pain and it is with this in mind I have developed a tasty snack to liven up even the darkest of days.

20th September. At last a Pifer

A week of Easterlies along the east coast made for a tempting trip. Unfortunately a very late night on Saturday and the winds reverting to westerley meant situation normal. Determined to get out somewhere and at least salvage something we decided on Potteric then failing anything on the coast visit the Dearne Valley.


An hour and a half sat in the Piper Marsh hide failed to reveal any Bitterns and had it not been for a juv Little Stint on Huxter Well Marsh the trip would have been a washout. With the east coast offering the merest scattering of 'scarce' we decided on the Dearne Valley as it was nearer and had the added attraction of an as yet sampled pie purveyor.

I'd had a tip off from a colleague that the pies here were a bit special and he was not wrong! I quickly identified a brace of fine looking Rabbit pies skulking in the corner of the fridge a new specimen for me, a pifer even. Despite Jo's reservation about cold rabbit pie we wandered along the Wombwell Ings flood bank gorging ourselves on a rich gelatinous game filling covered in delicate short crust pastry. Not even the discovery of rare white dog shit could distract us from these premier pies and a full ten points were awarded.Rabbit Pies with diagnostic rabbit features

A true 'Rare'

Pies consumed we waddled up to the hide to discover that the Pec' Sand was hiding behind a group of very stubborn pikey horses. A further walk to view the east of the Ings produced it but it was distant and shrouded in haze prompting Jo top declare how crap it was and that the Kestrel on the wires was far nicer.

16th September. Sick as a Sea Parrot

That's it we can all pack in now the Autumn is over. As if the Lancastrian Wobbler on St Miles From Anywhere Island wasn't enough then today's event in Kent will have been enough for any self respecting (and lets face it twitchers have to be self respecting) twitcher to throw himself in the Thames and hope that a Giant Petrel might be attracted to his our her rotting corpse thus not making their existence on this globally warmed planet finally worthwhile. As for those lucky bastards that nailed this beauty I salute you, particularly the hardpatchworking stalwart who found it.

If only I was

13th September. Waiting

Spent most of the day in waiting for various people to either pick up or drop off kids. The only birding in between drop offs was a pointless visit to Orgreave - pointless as I was looking straight into the sun.

Decided on an early evening visit to Edderthorpe where eventually the Spotted Crake showed very nicely.

11th September. All mixed up.

With yet another Friday off (I haven't done a five day week for almost two months now) I decided on a cunning plan. I'd figured that seeing as the majority of birds reported from Hatfield were being at the weekend I would get on and have the whole area to myself. I was wrong. By the time I got there some bloke was already walking back and another was halfway round. Undeterred I carried on. Things looked good straight away when a Grey Plover flew over calling. it had been that long since I'd last seen a Grey Plover that I'd actually forgotten that they existed. The distance call of Pink-footed Geese seemed surreal, it was after all technically still summer. But sure enough they were Pinkies, 44 of them in fact. They headed at first east before circling round and thinking about landing, no doubt mistaking the former peat workings for napalmed North Norfolk arable land. This was certainly the first time I'd watched migrating Pink-feet whilst just wearing a T-shirt and watching dragonflies - bizarre.

There also appears to be at least two Cormorants among them!

The rest of the morning was spent watching two Marsh Harriers a Hobby and looking for waders and most of the latter spent looking at an interesting Calidris that was obviously smaller and shorter straighter billed than the Dunlins present. At a distance it looked good and I was seriously thinking White-rumped but as I got closer and closer (down to a few metres) it became clear that it was just a small short-billed Dunlin. However during those few long minutes several things became clear: I need to gen up, My photography skills are even worse when the adrenalin is flowing and that it's not a good idea to wander out into the middle of a peat bog for a Dunin. Feeling somewhat frustrated with myself (If I'd had the ability I'd have kicked my arse all the way back to the car) I went home.

At a distance it looked interesting

Not quite as interesting now!