I can't yet face it

I've got one single eBird record from Wanstead in June. Working from home I noted a Red Kite flying over on the 13th. I did not otherwise trouble the patch. This is normal. At the end of the month I travelled to Brazil for a simply phenomenal trip in the Amazon rainforest near Manaus. I'll get to it. I got back about a week and a half ago and have not yet been able to get out on the patch. It would just depress me. In the Amazon I saw 350+ birds in a week. Many of them were sparkling and electric, bright greens, oranges, reds and blues. In Wanstead......

It's hot, consequently I've spent a great deal of time in the garden when I've not been working. Yesterday this slack attitude paid off when a Hobby flew over the house. A local year tick no less, one that I had not bothered to go and seek out. And now I don't have to. I am wondering what remains as at this rate I'll barely hit 100 and that assumes I get all of the regular autumn migrants that I didn't pick up in spring.

Waders, that's what I need. I need to sacrifice sleep and sit out on the balcony and hope I hear a Green Sandpiper (or better) going over. Is it worth it? Of course it isn't. I increasingly need my sleep, I am an eight hours a night kind of guy. Ideally more if I can squeeze it in. But I may end up with an embarrassingly low year list if this continues. 91 is the current total, the lowest in recent times is 106 and I have to go back to 2008 before I am on anything lower than 100. Time will tell, but at the moment I am below where I was when I staggered to 106 which does not exactly bode well. It is just so boring here, I really envy those people who month in month out continue to gain immense enjoyment from their patch. That's not me, or at least not at the moment. I may yet get there again, in the meantime I suspect those who still do have not been seduced by Brazil and similar locations.

I didn't come on here to write about any of this. Well, maybe the Hobby. I mainly came on to say that after a morning at work and an afternoon helping out a local institution, I came home and smashed out not one but two tax returns. Both! In a single evening. These have been bugging me for ages, until about 6pm this evening today's blog title would have applied to these as well as to patch birding, but shortly after this something kicked in. Something I continue to have little understanding of, but a switch was flicked and I just sat here for a few hours and smashed it out, including the dreaded FBAR which takes ages as you have to state the highest daily balance in any bank account you own, you jointly own, or you have signatory authority over. You can imagine what a royal pita that is but it is now done and I am feeling very good about it. So good that here is a picture of Georgia! Up next!

Gergeti Trinity Church, Stepantsminda.