We now move on to February 1981. The fun started in the old county of Zummerzet, where on the 8th, five of us squeezed into a Ford Capri (told you it was cheap!) and arrived at the back of beyond, or rather, Stolford in west Somerset just as light was beginning to make itself present. One has to have a backside that is delicately formed and like two apples in a basket to fit 3 people on the back seat of a Ford Capri! There's masses of headroom too!! I emerged from the car like the proverbial 'Hunchback of Notre Dam' and continued in permanent stoop along the coastline with my 4 'not small' companions. We were gratified to see that our target birds (and lifers) were still there. Three Shore Larks (Horned to the rest of you non-Brits!) performed superbly for us on the beach, or what was locally regarded as a beach! We watched these birds very closely and were lucky to grill these beauties, which are very rare in the south-west of England. (I've only seen one in Devon in fifteen years of living here!). Still completely hunched up from our drive down, we crept back towards the car and had the bonus of a Barnacle and 2 White-fronted Geese further back towards the car!
Feb 21 saw a minibus full of us hardened birders travelling up to the north-east of England which was a fair old way for us wurzels! We arrived at Hartlepool Docks at 6.30 in complete darkness and slid across the quay on a nice layer of ice, the edge of the pier coming up in front of us exceptionally fast!!! I had visions of us going over the edge and landing in the icy waters below, but somehow, the van found some grip at the last moment and we stopped with the front of the van hanging over the edge. Luckily the wheels were still on terra firma. We piled out into the cold air in the dark of a very cold morning and there in the half light was a blob, which turned out to be the bird we had travelled to see, a White-billed Diver! (Yellow-billed Loon to our friends from across the pond!). Some considerable time later dawn came upon us, and we were able to marvel at the COLOURS of the bird. A damned good tick and there was more good birding to come.
Acting on reliable information, we zoomed over to the town of Guisborough, picking up Glaucous Gull and Snow Bunting on the way at Seaton Carew. We were soon strolling along a disused railway embankment looking down at surrounding allotments and gardens for our quarry, but without success. Luckily for us, we met a local birder who informed us we were on the WRONG part of the railway line, and should move back more towards the town centre. We piled into the minibus and burnt rubber (honestly, even in a Transit!) to the Right location. Soon, Phil Delve spotted the bird, a Waxwing in a small tree on the embankment in front of us. This was a lifer for us all as we did not tend to get many Waxwings in the south-west, and even this single bird was a jewel in our eyes! We literally danced with joy and I was ecstatic - my 300th bird in Britain. With the various splits we've had since, 300 was actually quite some time before this, but it counted at the time, when we hadn't really had a good influx of this dapper bird for some years! I've since seen hundreds of them in the UK and even now I will put myself out to see these berry-gobbling gems! The rest of the day was spent looking unsuccessfully for Rough-legged Buzzards in Bransdale in north Yorkshire, but we were unlucky with this species, which was to become one of my all-time bogey birds, and a considerable thorn in my side! However, before we embarked back on the long journey south, we did chance upon Hen Harrier, Crossbill and about 50 Red Grouse which made for a brilliant full day's birding.
More next time.............................