My mother was visiting for the day as she is hoping to buy a flat in Aberdeen so was viewing five properties. I came along to help, because as well as being a skilled engineer in the oil industry I am also involved in the property business and own two deluxe city centre properties. In fact, one overlooks Morrison's car park and Lewy is deeply jealous of the views of gulls and sandwiches I get from my kitchen window.

Anyway, our flat hunting took us far and wide and by golly if I wasn't going to use this as an opportunity to spy birds in areas I don't usually find myself. Well, let me tell you that today did not disappoint. Finches galore! No Elder Finches of course, but another Double Back, a superb Reverse Twist Finch hippity-hopping across a lawn, and soaring over a patch of open land I'll be darned if I didn't spot the tell-tale yellow pinstripes of a plucky Ragbob Pine Finch. Who says the Pine Finches are only seen in West County marshes?

So I've had finches coming out of my ears today – what a day!

I've been told that I'll be going to Norway in less than a couple of weeks, for my glamorous engineering career in oil exploration using pioneering acoustic technology, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to see some birds that you'd not usually expect to see around Aberdeen. So in between the vital pressure-testing on equipment conducted today, I did some serious reading on birds (and listening to the appropriate bird sound CDs too naturally).

I'm most hoping to see the Stavangar White Pigeon, which is common just inland of the fjords, and if I'm lucky I may be able to make a visit to the famous Norwegian pine forests to get a glimpse of the rare Staring Owl, an owl whose stare is said in folklore to turn Norwegian children to real ice. Scary stuff! Who says birding is a walk in the park?

I met my friend and rival Lewy last night. He was lording over all the different types of birds he's seen recently, many of which I find to be suspect. I also think his methods potentially endanger nesting species more than they protect. His netting and capturing technique leaves a lot to be desired.

It's been a slow day. Some gulls were behaving strangely and I though perhaps a King-Beaked Hi-Falcon might have been disrupting them, but it turned out just to be the binmen.

I play poker most Mondays, and tonight poker was held at a friend's flat. This friend has three cats, which is not bird-friendly as you might imagine! Tonight seemed an especially bright night and so when I was unfortunately knocked out of the game quite early on (my opponent caught a flush on the river when I'd had a straight on the flop) I took the opportunity to gaze out of his top floor window a while. Plenty of gulls and common birds, but a moment of excitement when I thought I'd heard the whooping cry of a Seacrest Twist-Wren. Could it be?

Well no, it was just a false alarm of course. What would a Seacreat Twist-Wren (or any kind of Twist-Wren) be doing in the north in May?! Silly me!

I've been busy as a moorhen the last couple of days, so free time has been at a premium. I own a flat on King Street that I'm preparing to rent out, but before this is possible it needs to be fixed and readied Most of this has been done, but the last couple of weeks have been especially busy, in combo with my new engineering job, so my main love of birding has suffered somewhat.

Fortunately though, my King Street flat affords a great view of sea birds, and the variety of gulls observed is astounding! My friend, and rival, Lewy claims he saw a Blackened Spygull! However, he frequently lies.

Today was a leaving night for a good friend of mine, Sandy. This involved dinner, in which I ate pheasant (exact species unspecified, though I suspect a common Garden Pheasant). But of great note was the excellent spotting of the now very rare Winchester Swallow. This ungainly creature was hovering around our restaurant as if unsure what to do with itself. Unfortunately, some other common birds starrted bullying it, and it flew away scared.

Still, that makes bird 134 this year. That;s 7 more than Lewy!

As everyone will know, my favourite among all bird life are owls. Owls are majestic creatures: fantastic paragons of terror and wisdom. Did you know that they can turn their head a full 360 degrees? By strange coincidence, I can also jump a full 360 degrees.

I didn't see any owls today, but I did see Barcelona beat Arsenal 2-1.

Today I had the pleasure of seeing a Moldovan Powersparrow. A real Moldovan! Quite by chance too, as I was on the 8.15am no. 27 bus to the airport, I was dreamily gazing through the steam-glazed windows, as I usually do in the mornings (more due to tiredness than actual birdspotting if truth be told). And lo and behold, within a messy thicket by the roadside, where one would usually expect to spy a falcon or a gull, there my little Moldovan was. Spry little fellow, he was hopping along a log, unaware of my watching eyes.

The rest of my day was spent indoors, testing gauges and acoustic transmitters, so nothing to do with birds obviously! There being no windows, I didn't even have a chance for a lucky spot, and at lunch all I managed to see were common birds. Pah. But once I'm travelling the world and going offshore, then I'll be seeing all kinds of exotic birds. Good times ahead!

After some drinking last night, it was a slow and lazy morning of newspapers, orange juice and two bars of chocolate (a Boost bar and Munchies). To be honest, I quite relished the prospect of making this morning an example for the rest of my day, but I had an appointment with two non bird-watching friends (yes, I do have some!), Rosie and Becky. They wanted to visit a location near Colliestion called Old Slains Castle, a location of special interest for me as it is a known haunt of many sea-birds, including the Elder Finch!

Well, there was no Elder Finch today, but I did hear many, many seagulls, and to my delight spotted my first Double-backed Finch of the year. That's no. 133 for 2006. It was perched on a small mound, oblivious to my nearby crouching presence. Only Rosie making some noise finally disturbed it.

Lewy will be stomping mad when he hears I spotted a double-back!