Not quite Shetland


While hordes of middle-aged men are in Shetland, wading through beds of Yellow Iris and allowing rare locustella warblers to crawl all over them, some of us are still working at the rock-face of cutting edge field ornithology (mixed metaphors there!). We are plying our ornithological trade by grilling nondescript inland sites, mostly without water - and neither with a track record for rarities - and are trying to defy the law of averages (and our common sense that is screaming at us to "go north old man!") We may be self-deluded, or simple, or happy with our lot (or even all three!!) but the nation can breathe a sigh of relief that we are counting our Dunnocks, Chaffinches and Blackbirds while those who have scarpered off northwards dedicate their time to the so-called 'rares'... they used to be 'rarities' in my time. Just don't say BOOM!...

Epsom and Walton Downs seem to be my places of choice at the moment. Under-watched, with potential, and pleasant places to boot. This morning revealed just a little, but the weather was glorious and it was no hardship having to walk field edges, hedgerows and copses. Bottom line were: 31 Canada Goose, 9 Greyalg Goose, 3 Common Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 175 Stock Dove, 7 Skylark, 6 Meadow Pipit, 2 Swallow, 1 House Martin, 3 Stonechat, 1 Wheatear, 2 Redwing, 24 Chiffchaff.

A few butterflies were on the wing, including Small White, Comma, Red Admiral and Small Copper.


Comments

Dylan Wrathall said…
Steve - not deluded; just old! We're now in a position where reality and rarity are of equal billing - so what does a Shetland "locustella" matter when you've just recorded your first "patch" autumn Redwing? (I had one this morning as I walked to work!) - Dyl
3 October 2016 at 20:11
Steve Gale said…
Cheers Dyl, nice to have another 'old boy' putting things into perspective!!
3 October 2016 at 22:03
Jonathan Lethbridge said…
Get yerself up here, it's great fun!! 42 Yellow-browed Warblers....
4 October 2016 at 19:30
Steve Gale said…
Can you send one of them to me please Jono?
5 October 2016 at 07:17
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