First of all, thanks for your comment on my last entry, Steve. It's nice to think that someone reads my BLOG anyway! I have to correct you though, the first Oriental Pratincole arrived in 1981, not 82 as suggested by your good self, so I'll be dealing with that little gem earlier than what you thought. Let's not run before we can walk - I will cover 1981 first (and there's plenty to be mentioned!) before hitting 1982.
The year started well with Ferruginous Duck and Great Skua in the Weymouth area on the 1st, followed two days later by two drake Ring-necked Ducks at Orchardleigh Lake, Somerset. However, it was on the 4th that I got to grips with my first lifer of the year. I was up at 3a.m. and together with Nigel Warren, Tony Jackson and Phil Delve, journeyed down to Pembrokeshire. The omens were good for the day, we had two foxes in urban Bristol and a Barn Owl on the M32 interchange on the way down, and when we arrived at sleepy Stackpole, we were bombarded with calling Tawny Owls and saw several Woodcock flying around in the semi-darkness. Daylight came and we bumped into Bryan Bland who had come all the way down from Norfolk with a car-load. He generously informed us that the farmer, on whose land the bird was on, was not prepared to let anyone in his fields that day, because he was short-staffed. Undeterred, we decided to try and view the land from a distant hill with scopes, from the other side of the village, so started to walk back down the track. We had only gone about 50 metres, when a sharp call from Bryan drew our attention to the bird flying in and settling down nicely in a field right in front of us. Our first CATTLE EGRET had obviously decided not to disappoint us long-distance travellers! They of course were a lot rarer in those days, (and little did I know I would be seeing hundreds of them in Florida some 18 years later!). The day continued apace, and useful year-ticks were obtained in the form of two Choughs at St Govan's Head, Red Kite, Hen Harrier and Whooper Swan at Tregaron Bog, and of course, we could not help but call in again at Peterstone for another look at the over-wintering Spotted Sandpiper on the way back!
Despite this cracking start to the year, the next big trip produced a DIP, but a bird we did eventually 'claw back'. However, more on that next time.
Bang up to date again, and this week has produced some of the mildest, warmest weather I have ever encountered at this time of year. Just a few days ago I saw a large 'hawker-type' dragonfly - not bad for Nov 24, a couple of late dozy wasps and a bumble bee, hardly the sign of a hard winter to come! There are plenty of flowers out in my garden which should have died off weeks ago and there has hardly been a surge of winter birds entering the area, apart from the usual Brent Geese and Avocets, which seem to arrive no matter what the weather is doing. Most of the time I have been looking ahead to 2005, and planning what local birds to go for, but to be quite honest, there isn't much to follow up yet! Cheers!
I will now round off my birding tales from 1980. Returning from Scillies to Wiltshire it was time to get back to normal - crippling views of House Sparrows and Starlings in my back garden and one of my all-time favourites - the Dipper! Although Wilts was not renowned for its stunning birdlife, we were very fortunate in having Dippers on our local rivers - not what you'd expect in this particular neck of the woods! I can remember finding my first one when I was about 8 years old. I was totally gobsmacked by my find. I read in my birdbooks that they were 'only found in Wales, Scotland and the mountains and moorlands of western England'. So what the heck were they doing on my local river, which was only fast-flowing in parts and were at the dizzy heights of about 200 feet above sea-level? Still, they're still there now, but seem to be far more elusive these days.
Now back to 1980, we had time to fit in the odd Dudes' RSPB coach trip now and then. What? Going on an organised RSPB coach trip to see pretty 'dicky birds' I hear you say? Well, we did and we found it a pretty good way of seeing some damned good birds for a paltry sum of money. This particular trip had 10 of us hardened twitchers occupying the back seats and a trip to South Wales produced a good day out, ending up with a diversion on the way back to see a Spotted Sandpiper at Peterstone near Newport! Two days later and I was on my way to Prawle Point (in my now home county of Devon) to try for what would have been yet another lifer if I had connected with it. Pallas's Warbler was still a considerable rarity in those days and I dipped out on the blooming thing! However, all was not lost and we located a Yellow-browed Warbler in the area, the resident Cirl Buntings and being jammy as usual, a life-tick in the form of a Ferruginous Duck seen later in the day at Slapton Ley!
November 9 and we were on our way to Radipole Lake in Weymouth, Dorset for another and final life tick of the year. We drove right up to the bird. We need not have even bothered getting out of the car. The first-winter Ring-billed Gull (again a great rarity in those days!) was stood in the carpark. However being fit and keen we did exit the vehicle, and even set up our scopes. We were so damned close that we couldn't focus our scopes, but we would not have looked the part if we had only looked dudishly (crikey, does that word exist?) through our bins at it. I must admit that it was a pretty grotty bird and won no prizes for elegance! However it WAS a lifer and as I said, a rare bird then. No more lifers came my way in 1980, but if you think I saw some cracking birds in 1979 and 1980, wait 'til you find out what I connected with in 1981! I will move on to that year next time and if you don't like to hear about blockers, then you'd better look away!!
Bringing us up to date, I had a wizard call on my mobile from Martin Wolinski. He'd just found a Yellow-browed Warbler at Bowling Green Marsh (a new species for the reserve!) and generously put the news out straight away. My sincere thanks, Martin, it's about time I bought you a drink! I had a couple of chores to do that couldn't wait, but I tore over in the spare twenty minutes I had and was watching the bird within ten seconds of leaving the car. The bird was performing well in trees and bushes in the hide compound, being visible from the lane or from the hide itself. My second one this year, after having seen the one at Branscombe back in January. We had only been remarking a few days earlier, that this excellent little reserve was overdue a Yellow-browed or a Pallas's! Some incredible waders have turned up here over the years, and a reasonable selection of wildfowl as well, but rare passerines are not that well represented on the Bowling Green List, but hopefully we can change all that! Pacific Golden Plover, Terek, Baird's, White-rumped and Pectoral Sandpipers, Cattle and Great White Egrets, Glossy Ibis, Lesser Scaup, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck and Wryneck (to name a few of the better ones) have all occurred here in past twelve years or so, which must mean great potential for finding your own rarity here in the not too distant future. Time to stop rambling on and get this old codger up the wooden way to Bedfordshire. Bye.