A flying visit to the Nanny late this afternoon....
Not a huge amount to report but a large flyover flock of around 150 finches comprised of both twite and linnets....
A huge flock of 2000+ gulls were roosting on the shore, but it was late, getting dark and I was with the missus and the dog..... so not a good combination for sitting down and grilling gulls ! A quick look through confirmed that the bulk of them were common gulls.
We left the site at dusk and enjoyed excellent views of a short eared owl from the links road.
I had to apologise to the dog today.... my pager went missing a few days ago and I was sure the dog must have taken it and buried it somewhere (as she does !)..... then the wife found it in the pocket of my jeans............. which would have been good news if they weren't in the washing machine !............ BOLLOX !!...... Its now very clean but its also totally fecked up !!
This unfortunate incident has made me consider a new life without the little black box....but I've had this thing for 14 years and its feels part of me..... its funny because I don't really twitch stuff anymore unless its a big rare that I'd like to see (a lifer or a good UK tick usually). The pager is useful for this..... but the other side of the coin is it costs me over £160 a year and I HATE TWITCHING !! Love seeing new birds, but hate the whole twitching scene, its full of sad wankers....
Today I have been seriously considering not getting a replacement, sticking to patch birding and blocking out everything else .......... then TC called me to tell me there was a Rufous Turtle Dove in Aberdeen !!
Tim very kindly made this call because he knew my pager was wrecked, but it made me realise that despite all of my good local patching intentions, I still have these dirty filthy twitching tendencies.
I hate twitching, but I still need this sort of information.... and I'll probably still be seen in that crowd of idiots at the next big one........ why ?
Saturday, 14 November 2009
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3 comments:
Gary, ditch the pager get an Iphone and sign up to Birdguides Email Alert. All this crap about RBA being faster and more accurate just doesnt wash these days, it all comes down to which service gets the phone call. Does ten minutes make a big difference on 50% of stuff?
At least then your only carrying one device that can do so much more than the pager, GPS, Internet,IPod, video,camera etc etc. If you already have a phone and a pager the iphone is a way cheaper option.
RBA are often faster in my opinion.... compared to my mates who have text alerts I always seem to get news before them, often quite a bit before them... and 10 minutes can certainly make a difference if you are driving past a needletail or racing to see a bird before dark ! Christ listen to me, I am sounding like a right twitching idiot now....
Also... I am not that convinced birdguides validate their reports well enough, quite a lot of reports that turn out to be stringy seem to originate from birdguides. From my rather extensive pager experience, I feel RBA will use caution if they get a report and think something is possibly not quite right... "report of.." "possible" etc..
I know you are probably doing your bit as a birdguides employee, but I feel slaggin off RBA is unfair. I have had no problems with RBA in 14 years, they provide an excellent service. I gather RBA do text alerts too, not sure how these compare to birdguides tho ?
AND.... I certainly DO NOT want an iphone (whatever that is ?!), all I want from my mobile phone is to make phone calls and send the odd text... music, cameras, gps, video, e-mail.....its all a load of bollox, I don't want all that shit ! Has the world gone completely bonkers, I just want a bleedin phone !!
...And while I'm on the topic of these stupid fuckin phones, I've heard that there is a new trend in using fancy mobile phones to tape lure birds !! WHAT THE FUCK IS ALL THAT ABOUT ?? This just highlights how crazy the world is getting... Is there any field craft left anymore, or is the birding scene just full of idiots with too much technology ?
Oooooops.... that was a bit of a stringer rant...
Anyway, back on topic....I have considered getting text alerts to my "normal" mobile phone with certain filters, but when I think about the info I'd like to get, (BB rares and scarce migs) I'm not sure I wouldn't be better off with a pager ?...
Or perhaps I should just bin off all this bird news technology bollox... getting a bit sick of the whole scene tbh...
...But then could I survive dipping a rubythroat at St Marys Island ?....
...I'll see you all at the next big one !
just say no gary, you will always hear about the megas anyway - I bet you are glad you did not rush for the dove!
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