TO HELL AND BACK......

Well.... maybe worse than hell...... FECKIN WALES !!

Yep I was one of the sad bastards that wasted a weekend, travelling to Wales of all places to look at little egrets on a windswept saltmarsh !!

When news came through of a little blue heron and a siberian thrush both lurkin in as yet undiscovered corners of Wales, I cracked and reverted to my sad old twitching self.... within minutes I found myself in the car and on a crazy overnight drive to south Wales..... Why do I do stupid shit like that ?!

I should have known better..... Its Wales for fecks sake !!..... There's a good reason there's no birders in central Wales, its because its shit !! I think its fair to say that the sibe thrush was probably never pinned down and ID'd properly because there was no birder stupid enough to want to live anywhere near it !!... Rhayader FFS !!

As for the little blue heron debarcle............ Does anyone actually know if there was a little blue heron there in the first place ?!!! I don't fuggin know....

The day started fairly positively with many of those annoying twitcher types searching every section of the saltmarsh at dawn whilst simultaneously braggin about the size of thier UK600 lists to anyone who was stupid enough to listen........

Surely it would be nailed down fairly quickly, after all it has been seen 4 times in this spot during the last 4 days..... By lunchtime more information was coming out.......it had actually been seen 4 times here in the last week or so....... by mid afternoon it had been seen 4 times in the last 2 weeks....... and by late afternoon the initial observers weren't at all sure that they had actually seen a little blue heron in the first place !!!

WHAT THE F.... ?!!! I HATE WALES !!!

A line of desperate birders..... preparing for mass suicide....

Even this cow was fed up..... Moooooooody cow

The stress if visiting Wales had sent some birders completely insane.....

This bloke had totally lost the plot and decided that the best way to get close to any bird for a photograph was to disguise himself as a north sea trawlerman..... it didn't work, we were all impressed with his camouflage tho...... "He's off to take some photo's of a canary in a custard factory" as my mate desperate Dan put it !

Thank the lord for daft cockneys tho, this one (above) made us all laugh when we at our lowest ebb...

So to summarise.....I hate Wales !! I hate Wales !! I HATE WALES !!... Apart from cheese on toast, Bardsay and Anglesey what has it ever given us........... dissapointment thats what !!

I will never twitch again and I shall never return to Wales............

.......well.......until the next time....

ANOTHER FLASHBACK....

No not a rave......This time some birds ringed at Newton Pool, ones that I didn't see....8-(..... These pics were very kindly supplied by Chris Redfern, thanks Chris.

FLASHBACK !! RAVE ALERT.....

ABSOLUTELY FUGGIN AWESOME !! ....Just found this clip on youtube..... I was at this rave !!! The picture quality isn't that good but I think it probably replicates the fuzzy vision I had on the night quite well !!

Yep I'm in there somewhere complete with a long pony tail, white gloves, wide eyes and a gangley dance......What an amazing night..... them were the days !!

High Newton & Long Nanny, 19th Oct 2008

URGGHHH..... MY HEAD HURTS.....

I have now discovered that a combination of lager, red wine, white russians, bitter, white wine, southern comfort, and some unidentified blue stuff in a jug, is not good for you..... especially not in a pub with a late licence and the worst AC/DC tribute band ever !! Even worse..... after crucifying a number of classic Bon Scott tracks they then proceeded to wreck she sells sanctuary by the cult and some led zep, before finishing off by clubbing an old metallica track to death..........and I was so pissed I was singing along to it all !!

Even more entertaining than the awful crinkly Bon Scott wannabe tho, was the most drunk fat bird I've ever seen.... A proper huge woman in a huge red dress, dancing around (well more like stumbling and flailing around) and gulping from a huge bottle of red wine !! What a state !!...... £9.50 from the bar she told me.....

Within 30 seconds I found myself taking slugs from my very own £9.50 bottle of white wine at the bar...... What a mess..... can't remember getting home.....

Fast forward to this morning...... I woke up at 9am and found myself clinging to the bed to stop it from spinning.... a banging head and the feeling of imminent puke was not good.... not good at all..... So I necked a handful of pills and a pint of water before passing out again.....

I then woke at 1 o'clock feeling a bit better.... so off to Newton for some fresh air, and blimey it was a bit fresh !! Think it was something like a force 10 gale, was half expecting a tree to fall on my head.....

Due to the windy conditions and my still very fuzzy head I didn't see much in the way of passerines, but the ploughed field at High Newton had a huge flock of over 1000 gulls including a nice adult med....

A small part of the gull flock......Spot the med....

The flood at High Newton held the usual redshank, but also 13 snipe, 1 dunlin and a grey wagtail....

A walk to the Long Nanny produced 4 barwits, 1 knot and a grey plover on the beach... at the Nanny the gull roost contained 2 sandwich terns.....

A thrash round the saltmarsh produced nothing at all.... bout time there was some twite or a snob here....

Sun and a nice sky at the Long Nanny....

I couldn't be bothered taking any bird pics today.... too much of a hangover and some howling winds....

High Newton, 17th Oct 2008

FIRST DIRECT BANK ARE A BUNCH OF TOTAL WANKERS !!

Yesterday I got charged £25 by my wonderful bank who bounced a £30 direct debit payment because it would have taken me overdrawn by £10.... Not only that, but I called them up beforehand to alert them to problem, and also went to my other bank, took some money out and payed it into my first direct account to cover the direct debit....

In the 1 hour it took me to to do this, first direct decided to bounce the direct debit..... So I ended up having my account £200 in credit by the afternoon and the bank still charging me £25....

When I called them up to complain they said "tough the money wasn't paid in quick enough".....

WHAT A BUNCH OF TOTAL FUCKIN WANKERS !!!

To add insult to injury my motorbike insurance company have now also charged me £25 because the debit was bounced !!! FOR FUCKS SAKE !!!

So... I have informed first direct that I am disgusted with the way they treat their customers and shall be taking my overdraft elsewhere...... and I advise anyone reading this to stick two fingers up at first direct too.....

I think I may try the co-op for a bit of ethical banking....

Anyway, this whole episode stressed me out, so I decided to cruise over to Newton and do a bit of ringing..... On the way there I noticed 3 seperate high flying jays, all heading eastwards..... Coincidence, or a bit of a movement ?

A thrush day today and some good vis mig despite the westerlies..... In particular good numbers of thrushes coming in of the sea, mainly redwings but 7 fieldfares and a couple of mistle thrushes too..... At least 4 large flocks of redwings coming in.....

The highlight was a flock of around 300 redwings spiralling out of the sky into the scrub around me.... just lots of whooshes of wings and redwing calls !! Awesome !!

The ringing was steady, with some nice birds, plenty of thrushes, a few redwings, song thrushes and blackbirds and 1 mistle thrush, a couple of blackcaps, a stonkin female sparrowhawk and a tribe of 13 long tailed tits....

A big golden spangly job....... errrr....... not quite...

One of my favourites, always a good day when you're catching these....

Double hard !!

While ringing there was a stonkin male brambling floating around the ringing site, and during the course of the day 3 more single bramblings headed over calling.... Also of note good numbers of pinkfeet, pipits and skylarks on the move..... and 3 grey wagtails over too...

Finally, 3 tree sparrows around the ringing site, great that I'm seeing them regularly again.....

Birds always cheer me up..... screw the bank !!

Long Nanny & Low Newton, 15th Oct 2008

It's mid-October..... The sycamores should be dripping with pallas's and yellow brows, little buntings should be ticking overhead, and the newly arrived thrushes in that scrub by the church should be harbouring one of those big golden spangly jobs......... Mmmmmm.............. Zoothera........

Ok, so maybe I'm living in a fantasy world, but this is what 3 weeks of non-stop westerlies does to a man.... I've been walking round today looking at sycamores and reminiscing about past yellow brows, pallas's, and firecrests.....

The long-range weather forecast says that we will have westerlies now until November..... they often get it wrong, so hopefully we'll get some east soon..... tonight I am going to pray to the God of radde's warblers..... that should do it !!

I was out with work today having a walk around the long nanny, it was work so no time for birding.... errrr......honest !!

The highlight was a cracking short eared owl which was quartering the fields west of the dunes, this soon got mobbed and we watched it circle higher and higher until it was a dot in the sky, it then drifted off south.... also here today was a peregrine, a wheatear and some good numbers of snipe.... and back at Newton Links Farm a lesser redpoll was with the finch flock.

A flying visit to Low Newton revealed nothing new, 16 dunlin and 2 ringed plovers were on the flood Pool. A variety of the usual ducks were on Newton Pool itself, including 2 gadwall....

On the shore at Low Newton a good variety of waders included two grey plover and five barwits.

An adult male peregrine put on a great display here, looping out over the Emblestones, flushing hundreds of golden plover and lapwing, and then heading straight back up the beach and directly over my head..... Awesome views !!

Finally, a quick squizz around the walled garden at High Newton and there were two flocks of Redwings, one (about 10-12) in the garden itself, and then a flock of 9 flying in off the sea ........ MIGRANTS !!

Blimey is that the time ?..... back to work.....

12th Oct 2008 - BOLLOX TO BIRDING !!

That's what I thought when I woke up this morning......

It is a beautiful day, there's naff all birds about (well unless you live in Cornwall or Ireland).... time to wake that sleeping beauty that lives in my garage !!

Yep, this could be the last warm and sunny day of the year, so I thought I'd head out for a blast on my bike....

Due to a combination of shit weather, birding commitments and poxy decorating, I have neglected the R6 recently. She's been sat in the garage covered in a sheet for 4 weeks now..... So this morning I pulled the sheet off, undid her shackles, wheeled her out, and fired her up....

1 press of the button and she roared into life....

PHOOOOOAAAAARRR !!.... I LOVE THIS BIKE !!

Sex on wheeels.... More beautiful than a wallcreeper !! Well it is in my eyes anyway...

"Mmmm.....I'll just take her for a gentle ride.... "..... That thought had barely run through my mind when I found myself on a disgraceful license losing display along the A19.... Throwing it around a few islands with my knee skimming the tarmac, then as I left the Cramlington island the road was clear, so I opened her up....

I love that feeling of warp speed, as the world shrinks in your mirrors.... within a few seconds I had topped out in fifth gear and snicked her into sixth...... at this point, I glanced down to see I was doing a totally ridiculous speed.......

Now I am a sensible car driver, I'm certainly not a boy racer or a speed merchant...... but this bike......... this bike.....

Well........ I don't know how to explain it..... It transforms you....... It's like you get possessed by a devil.... although I'm sure that probably wouldn't wash in a court of law...... "Sorry your honour, the devil made me do it..." !!

As I pulled up back at home and put her to bed in the garage, I was buzzin and grinning from ear to ear......it just left me wondering why I don't ride her more often.......

There is more to life than birds........

Long Nanny, Newton Point & Low Newton, 11th Oct 2008

ITS OFFICIAL I AM A GRUMPY OLD GIT !!!.... Well according to my mates I am.....

I'm feeling frustrated about the recent lack of weather and decent birds up here, this frustration is compounded by the south wests recent run of crippling yanks..... so this morning I sent a text to my mate... something along the lines of.....

...."Bleedin ell.. Cornwalls done it again !! Yanks everywhere and I'm stuck on the north east coast seeing fuck all !! Its shite here.... moan moan...etc etc.."

The reply came....

"Get a grip, stop moaning and look at your blog entries this year....."

For a moment I thought yeah ok you're right......but then I remembered... he lives in Lancashire (where I used to live), so of course he would say that wouldn't he, there's nowt over there !!

Nope, we need easterlies and we need em NOW !!

Now before people get offended, I'm only kiddin, Lancashire is a great county really, and yes I do need to get a grip, the patch is still awesome, and I'm probably just having a momentary lack of motivation.....

With this in mind I decided to block out this weeks messages coming through from Cornwall about alder flycatchers, nighthawks, bobolinks and red eyed vireos, and give Newton a good thrashing...

On the road in I stopped before reaching High Newton to check out a merlin that was perched on roadside wires...

Funky merlin, a good start....

At High Newton I checked out a tit flock in the walled garden for a lingering yellow brow but it wasn't to be... some nice views of song and mistle thrushes feeding alongside each other on elderberries tho....

On the High Newton flood pool there were 60+ redshank and a couple of teal, then further down the road at Newton Links farm a couple of chiffchaffs were in the roadside willows....

Along towards the Long Nanny several groups of pipits were grilled, unsurprisingly all turned out to be meadow pipits tho... also some nice groups of finches, linnets, goldfinches, greenfinches and 1 lesser redpoll, no twite yet tho..... Also 3 reed buntings with em, which was nice....

I'd love to get a lapland bunt or richards pipit here this autumn..... Mmmmmm... I wonder....

At the Nanny itself yet more pipits were grilled and couple of skylarks were also present...

The Nanny had a group of 30 odd curlew, 7 redshank and 2 snipe along its banks.... and on the burn were 2 goosander.....

Goosander..

I thoroughly checked the saltmarsh in the hope that the that richards pipit or lap bunt had arrived....................... No chance !

Around on the shore I spent half an hour checking out the gulls....

Aren't gulls BRILLIANT !!

Lesser black back adult and juv...

Greater black back juv.... a double hard bastard, look at the size of that bill !!

Also 3 sandwich terns were with the gulls....

A scan offshore produced, 1 common scoter, 3 red throated divers and this blob....

Blob...

Flying blob....

Flying blob hassling a sarnie...

Next I headed to Newton Point, across in Football Hole 4 red throated divers were loafing about...

loafers...

Around 500 golden plovers were roosting on the rocks here, also 50 odd curlew, and a few turnstone and redshank....

Around in Newton Haven a lone pale bellied brent was a pleasant suprise....

Coooool !!

There was a lot of activity here with many rock pipits, pied wagtails and waders including, redshank, turnstone, sanderling, 5 barwits, and 1 grey plover......

On the flood pool there were 17 dunlin, 11 redshank, 9 lapwing and a few teal, finally on Newton Pool there was the usual stuff, but 2 tufted ducks and lone goldeneye were new in.... winter is on its way....

So all in all a nice day, no great rares, but I didn't really expect any.... a few nice birds tho....

Note to self - MUST NOT BE A GRUMPY OLD GIT..... MUST THINK POSITIVE.....

Newton Point & Low Newton, 3rd Oct 2008

ALL WEATHER FORECASTERS SHOULD BE PUT IN STOCKS AND PELTED WITH ROTTEN TOMATOES AND OTHER SOFT SMELLY THINGS !!

....Well except those pretty blonde girlies that do it on the telly, I'll let them off...

I took a day off work today in anticipation of a skua fest, all the weather forecasts said strong northerlies with the heavy rain clearing up before dawn, should be some good seabird action I thought.....

So.....At 7.30 I was at Newton Point sitting a howling northerly gale (as predicted) and some torrential horizontal rain (NOT as predicted) !

By 9.00 it was STILL totally pissing down, I was drenched, I couldn't feel my finger tips, my optics were covered in rain, constantly steaming up, and visibility was down to about 5 ft anyway !! As a result I was shivering and had seen absolutely naff all !! FUGGIN WEATHER FORECASTS !!

The rain cleared at about 9.15, but I was just a soggy mess and only managed to stick it out till about 10.30 before deciding enough was enough.... my totals....

2 pom skuas (including 1 cracking spooned up adult)
7 sooty shearwaters
8 bonxies
3 arctic skuas
1 great northern diver
2 wigeon
100 barnacle geese
and 1 distant probable long tailed skua juv.... in misty fuzzy shaky conditions !! OK I know that sounds a bit stringy, but it just had that jizz.... shite views tho....

I needed to warm up and dry off so I had a wander down to Low Newton.....

At the flooded field the only wader was a lone curlew sandpiper...... and on the beach there was a grey wagtail with the pieds..... otherwise pretty quiet......

I got home had a shower and chilled on the sofa, then found out someone has reported a pec sand on the High Newton flood pool..... oh well..... I alerted my mate Bazza who went straight up there, but he called back 20 minutes later to let me know there was no sign of it......