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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.'