Yawning and Year-listing

Another day, another Red-flanked Bluetail. Officially now the bird UK birders least want to see. Secretly the finders are hoping for Robins, but no, another sodding Bluetail. Bedgrudgingly, and knowing they are going to be made fun of by their peers, they put the news out....

Half a day in Suffolk today with Bradders, following another morning dipping Bluethroat at Rainham. Continued this fine form by dipping Ferruginous Duck at Lackford, but managed some excellent if brief views of the Bluetail at Lowestoft. The experience did not compare with that of ten days ago at Geosetter. There, the bird was in full view most of the time, and came within fifteen feet of the few observers present. At Lowestoft the cover was incredibly dense, and viewing was extrememly difficult. Despite their newfound common-as-muck status, the bird today attracted upwards of fifty people, and was seen sporadically by only a few of those. I was one of the lucky ones, it just appeared in my bins for a moment or two, and then vanished again. Very smart, but not even a useful year-tick....

Having seen it I abandoned the crowded paths, went and sat in the sunshine by the sea, ate a Double-decker, and hoped for a Little Auk. Miraculously I was soon treated to one drifting south very close inshore (#290). Unbelievable, and superb! It was only the second I have ever seen. I've seen three Bluetails......



The day, or what was left of it, for it was now close to 4pm, became a blantant quest for year ticks. I'm so close to 300 that I might as well. I know I said I wouldn't, but I'm hopeless. I'm not feeling too guilty, this is genuinely the first time this year I have been chasing stuff for no reason whatsoever.

First up the King Eider at Dunwich, which I found at extreme range, but in excellent light was still identifiable, at least well-enough for a mere year-tick (#291). We then dipped a Pallas's Warbler just down the road at Sizewell, before retracing our steps to Westleton Heath where we were just in time to get the Great Grey Shrike before it went to roost (#292).  That out of the way, we spent a bit of time looking at Red Deer on the heath, including two rather magnificent Stags braying and snorting.

So, eight to go for 300, and I haven't even seen a Puffin, and likely nor will I. That's how laissez-faire I've been, but it appears to have happened anyway. I must remember to not year-list again in 2011, it appears to be an incredibly effective way in which to see a shed-load of birds.

Bracketing a Bluethroat

A rather impressive hangover this morning precluded a swift exit and dash to Rainham for a Bluethroat. I missed it by about two minutes. I stuck around for as long as I could, but needed to be back so that Mrs L could selfishly pursue her hobbies. Naturally the Bluethroat popped up again just after I had left, and showed on and off for two hours.

Approximately two hours and five minutes later I arrived back at the same spot, and despite giving it another couple of hours, dipped again. Nicely done I felt. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow morning before the reserve opens, hopefully it will a) be there, and b) may feed in the open without the hordes.

In the meantime, here is one I prepared earlier.


So why am I bothered? Strange, isn't it? Here is a bird that I saw beyond excellently only a week ago, and yet I'm fretting over dipping this near-identical one. Let's just call it the joys of county listing and leave it at that, as there is no rational explanation. Oh wait, yes, I'm a sad loser with a mild case of obsessive compulsive disorder. Yes, just mild. Believe me, there are some absolute fruitcakes out there.

The day was rescued by a very smart Tree Sparrow on the feeders outside the visitor centre, my first for the reserve, and also an Essex tick. Like you wanted to know that.

Behold!

Anyone who clicks to make this bigger is a fool.

And Lo, internet acolytes, there was a new Washing Basket of Unhappiness, purchased from the great Blue and Yellow Warehouse of Doom. It is either full of dirty clothes, which is no good, as I have to wash them, or full of clean wet ones, which is also no good as I have to hang them up. It can also be full of clean dry clothes, the final phase, which, depending on the content, can also be no good if it contains loads of socks to pair up, or, if it is 'big' things, good, as Mrs L does all the ironing round here.

My life revolves around the washing basket, not birds, as some of you may have supposed. To say I was heartbroken when the old one broke (of over-use) is perhaps a little strong, but I persevered with it for as long as possible, until finally, on my return from Shetland, and struggling under a veritable mountain of dirty birding clobber, the handle snapped off and its time had finally come. "Hard Plastics", the container said, so in it went as I shed a tear, not for the loss of my constant companion these last few years, but due to fact that I now had to go to Ikea.

In case you had not guessed, birding in Wanstead is dull beyond belief. Initially of course it was all mega, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Green Woodpeckers and so on, but the excitement is dying down, or rather, has died completely, and I find myself in need of a Bluetail or similar. A flock of about eighty Redwings flew over the garden this afternoon, easily the biggest flock I've had, yet I could muster no enthusiasm for them. Does this happen to everyone who goes to Shetland or Scilly to feast on rare birds?

I think I need a holiday.

Shetland: Day 9: Mainland and home

Sunday October 10th
Not a great deal to say about today you'll no doubt be pleased to read. We were under pressure from the word go to be on a flight, and though we never strayed far from the airport, the looming deadline nagged.

We birded a few sites in South Mainland, found very little in increasingly poor weather, and eventually called it a day and went back to Sumburgh. The trip was over, and though the weather looked promising for a new batch of rare vagrants, we could have no complaints. What a week! Last year on Scilly I saw a Radde's Warbler, a Rosefinch, a Wryneck, an RB Fly, and a few Yellow-broweds. Though not a competition, Shetland wins comprehensively. I only get one birding holiday a year and I'd like to see as much as possible, so I lucked out this time. I hope Scilly's time comes again; it is a much nicer place to be birding, with nice weather, excellent cake and good pubs, none of which Shetland has. But on the basis of my two trips, there is clearly no comparison on the bird front.

Twite

Having said that, luck and weather systems play their part, and as I sit here typing this, Scilly is getting a nice crop of rare Wheatears, and hot off the press, a Red-eyed Vireo. The weather could have been bad up on Shetland; Northern gales and I could have seen literally nothing. So I may yet go to Scilly again, it is a lovely place, and I don't want the St Mary's Boatmen to starve.

Back to Wanstead next, bet you can't wait. I've bought a new washing basket...

Final Bird count, ticks underlined: Buff-breasted Sandpiper x 2, Glaucous Gull, Short-toed Lark, Buff-bellied Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Red-flanked Bluetail, Bluethroat, Swainson's Thrush, Radde's Warbler, Sykes's Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Barred Warbler, Pallas's Warbler x 2, Yellow-browed Warbler x 11, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, Little Bunting, Black-headed Bunting.

Shetland: Day 8: Mainland

Saturday October 9th

Refound the Pallas's Warbler first thing in company with yet another Yellow-browed Warbler at Sumburgh Farm. Pallas's Warblers are living, breathing gems. Yellow-broweds are pretty smart, but a Pallas's has that little bit of extra pizazz. They're both tiny, yet to get here they have travelled thousands of miles - some of the longest distance vagrants that we get, and YBW in particular is way commoner in the autumn than many birds that live considerably closer. Why that should be I have no idea, but I'll take every one that comes, super little birds.



Yellow-browed Warbler was once a dream bird for me, almost mythical in status. I finally got to see one in Norfolk a couple of years ago, and that kind of broke the mystique. Since then I've seen loads - this holiday alone I think I saw eleven, of which I found three. And if I can find one, that means there is definitely no mystique!

I called the others over to see the Pallas's, and we all enjoyed some great views. Last year, in my quest to get to 300, I never came close to getting a Pallas's Warbler. I guess some years are bad, and some are good.



The rest of the day was spent birding various sites around South Mainland. We got stonking views of a 1w Bluethroat at Noss of Spiggie, and then Vince did us proud by finding another Pallas's Warbler near Geosetter in a tiny fragment of habitat. This bird showed amazingly well, but it was incredibly gloomy in the geo making for high ISO and grainy pics. We ended the day at Channerwick where I finally caught up with a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a bird which had managed to elude me all trip, though saying that there was one on Skerries I couldn't be bothered to go and see which I now regret seeing as it had one wing and could be stroked.







Running Bird count: Buff-breasted Sandpiper x 2, Glaucous Gull, Short-toed Lark, Buff-bellied Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Red-flanked Bluetail, Bluethroat, Swainson's Thrush, Radde's Warbler, Booted Warbler Sykes Warbler, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Barred Warbler, Pallas's Warbler x 2, Yellow-browed Warbler x 11, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, Little Bunting, Black-headed Bunting.

Shetland: Day 7: Mainland

Friday October 8th


Once again started at Sumburgh, and it seemed that yesterday's birds were still in residence, with almost identical numbers of Spotted Flycatchers and Wheatears seen. Not much else so we headed to Scatness, there to encounter an extremely friendly local birder, all too happy to share his patch with visitors. He didn't in any way patrol his patch like an arrogant bulldog and shout a lot at all and sundry, no not at all, that would be way off the mark and completely wrong. I look forward to welcoming him in Wanstead.

We left. Wanker.

We were birding Quendale again when news of a Red-flanked Bluetail at Geosetter filtered through. BLUETAIL! Sweet baby moses! Although no longer a mega following a run of birds in recent years, it still classifies as a must-see bird. I saw one in Norfolk a couple of years ago, and have been itching to see another ever since.

The bird did not disappoint, and showed at pretty much point-blank range. Phenomenal is all I can say, and it almost knocked the Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll off top spot. Almost, but not quite - the Redpoll was that good.

What more can you say about a Red-flanked Bluetail? Dream bird, and to get one as showy as this, well, wonderful. The bird was in feeding mode, constantly on the move, behaving like a Flycatcher quite a lot of the time, swooping from fences to feed and then landing again. We watched it for probably two hours, and also picked up another two Yellow-browed Warblers, a Spotted Flycatcher, and our first Pied Flycatcher of the trip.

We eventually tore ourselves away and checked out a couple more sites on the way back home. Channerwick had a Red-breasted Flycatcher that I missed, and another Yellow-browed Warbler, and at Sumburgh I located yet another Yellow-browed whilst looking for a Pallas's Warbler that had been reported. The area was carpeted with Goldcrests, clearly there had been some kind of afternoon fall.

Tomorrow was shaping up nicely.

Running Bird count: Buff-breasted Sandpiper x 2, Glaucous Gull, Short-toed Lark, Buff-bellied Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Red-flanked Bluetail, Swainson's Thrush, Radde's Warbler, Booted Warbler Sykes Warbler, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler x 10, Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, Little Bunting, Black-headed Bunting.

Shetland: Day 6: Unst again

Thursday October 7th

The plan was to bash Sumburgh for as long as it took to find a White's Thrush. It looked promising, with the wall running down from the farm to the hotel hosting three Spotted Flycatchers and five Wheatears. Meanwhile a skein of thirteen Pink-footed Geese flew over.

Then the pager went off with positive news of the Lanceolated Warbler at Skaw on Unst. Although this was a mere five minutes from the Arctic Redpoll yesterday, news travels slowly on Shetland, and we had been unaware of it. Hoping it was a real one, we decided to go. The birding up there is great anyway, and we could enjoy the Redpoll all over again. Any excuse...

We met the Drunks at Toft; they too had caved and were in twitching mode. In fact all the cars on the Yell-Unst ferry were birders, and all of them were headed for the Lancy, so we drove in a convoy to the most northerly settlement in Britain. Once there we found a few other birders scratching their heads, but they were looking in the wrong place. Vince and Steve, already on Unst, had given me very good directions for the bird which I disseminated, and soon enough a line of birders stretched across the favoured field. The bird duly popped up, flew into the next field and disappeared. I followed it, and almost trod on it. Literally in front of my foot, it dived like a mouse into a hole in the grass and emerged about fifteen metres to my right a short while later, never having left cover - astonishing.

Gradually we managed to marshall ourselves into some semblance of order, and eventually the bird came right out into the open as it fed along a fence-line. The sound of camera motor-drives was insane, like a press conference. The bird was untroubled by the commotion, and looking at it, it was very apparent that the bird on Skerries had never in a million years been a Lancy. Live and learn.



We left the bird in peace, exchanged high fives etc with the Drunks who now had to head home, and went back to Norwick for the Redpoll, which in contrast to yesterday we found in under five minutes. You win some, you lose some. It never posed as well as before, but it was a great bird to watch. Here is what I reckon is a Greenland Redpoll (form rostrata) for comparison.

Not a lot more to tell really. Paul and Monkey went off to try and refind the Little Bunting and see what else they could dig up, and I plonked myself on the beach and took photos of waders. Everyone happy.





Running Bird count: Buff-breasted Sandpiper x 2, Glaucous Gull, Short-toed Lark, Buff-bellied Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Swainson's Thrush, Radde's Warbler, Booted Warbler Sykes Warbler, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler x 5, Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, Little Bunting, Black-headed Bunting.