Second time lucky

The first "new" (broken) camera was returned whence it came. Somehow I managed to source a second "new" camera in short enough order to take it to Oman, which is where I was at the end of last week. This one worked a lot better and I think I quite like it. I have also filled it with sand so I am somewhat bound to now keep it. It is just a tool, not something to wrap up in cotton wool. Anyway, to end February here is an extremely friendly Desert Wheatear that also liked the camera a lot. He was so persistent that I considered giving it to him, but my backup is a still a bit hit and miss so I had to keep it. And what does a Wheatear need with a camera anyway? Well this particular Wheatear would have adored to have had a very tiny camera with which to take selfies. Instead he had to content himself with frequent and lengthy self admiration in a defunct Toyota wing mirror abandoned in the desert. I might send him a print.

Boring the shit out of everyone

A recent opinion poll suggested that decent photos of Desert Wheatear are the most likely things to bore the crap of out of 95% of birders. It went on to say that the least original bird-related material in November would likely be point-blank photos of Desert Wheatears, and that any blogger worth his salt would be wise to simply decline any opportunity to see the species altogether. Real birders don't go to see Desert Wheatears, only fucking paparazzi do that apparently. 

That being the case, and popularity amongst the digital generation being absolutely at the top of my list of priorities, it would obviously be very foolish of me to go and add to the vast morass of Desert Wheatear shots that now exist online following the east coast being littered with ridiculously showy birds. Fortunately I actually hate Wheatears, they're probably my least favourite group of birds on the planet, and there is absolutely no way I'd bother wasting any time on one of them whatsoever, especially on a weekend when I could have stayed at home picking my nose. No, this blog is going to remain steadfastly original, and I stand in complete solidarity with all those boring, pompous twat-heads who have proclaimed online that they're sick and tired of photos of Desert Wheatears. There will be none of that here, not while I'm in charge. My brothers, I salute you.

With two fingers.

Desert Wheatear at Abberton

I've been crossing my fingers for two things this week as I've been sat mulling the difficulties of Basle 3 Capital and other exciting diversions.

1) That the Desert Wheatear at Abberton would stay until this morning.

It did. And...

2) That it would show well.

It didn't.

It didn't show well. Rather it showed amazingly. Superbly. Superlatively. I didn't exactly have it to myself, it has to be said, but it was one of those ridiculous birds that hops between people, walks within your minimum focus distance, and generally wonders what all the fuss is about. I love birds like this. And that it should be a type of Wheatear, well, from my perspective it doesn't get much better really. Actually it does, as it's an Essex tick for me, and a pretty monster one at that, with only three in the last hundred years or something.

 

Mmmmm, Wheatears....There could easily be Wheatear overload today, but I will refrain here, and instead post a wider selection on www.justbirdphotos.com a little later on. And finally, some of you may have noticed that the little counter at the bottom of this page just notched over a minor landmark. Maybe you didn't notice? I did, as all blog authors do. A stat! A visitor! Somebody read what I wrote! A quarter of a million? Even discounting me logging on fifty times a day to see what the statcounter says, that's an awful lot of people. Many of them disappointed I expect. "What the? I clicked on 'Tits' dammit!!!"