P.G. Tips!

Cheers!


Bit giddy tonight...you know how it is. Having tried for the last one "up there" in the Doctors garden (aka Good morning Vietnam) in October 2010 I set off from Holmpton for Hartlepool on the MEGA alert at 10.35.

I'd already had a good morning locally having seen at least 4 Redstarts and a Peregrine (H.105, P.153) off the cliff...

As we know this is NOT a showy species! So it was no surprise that "no further sign" was the order of the day. Still, no pain, no gain...so I drove on...ever optimistic. As I approached scenic Middlesborough at 1.12 another MEGA alert...PALLAS'S GRASSHOPPER WARBLER Whitburn Coastal Park, to be released at 1.50!!!?

DRIVE ON...rather quickly!

I rang RBA for directions and as usual they were superbly helpful. Luckily I got a clear run. A couple of fortuitous choices when asking directions saw me entering the park around 2. I immediately saw "the crowd" but was the bird still "in th'and"? No parking space, no time, so up on the grass and out. Tried to look calm but it didn't work, still who cares.

Yes!!!!!

I joined the appreciative, elated crowd and took a few pics (amazed I remembered my camera in the circumstances).



The Warden then decided he could wait no longer, to be fair to the bird. So he marched down to the release area...



Pied Piper!

and the bird was gone...

Fantastic LIFER, obviously rather chuffed! Thanks also to Andrew Kinghorn who helped me with directions and maybe helped them to hang onto it for a few vital minutes...cheers pal.

Having missed the Blakeney Point bird due to fatherly commitments and the Spurn bird due to distance this was indeed a sweet moment.