A few bits

Managed a couple of village ticks the last few days. First 8 Brent Geese flew south along the beach. I know..well overdue! This was quickly followed by at least 4 Brambling in the garden of the last house on School lane. This brings my Village life list to a modest 135. Plenty to go at.

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A few more thoughts from the weekend. So, I actually saw Shetland in daylight on my second visit. Impressions? Big, very big. Wet, windy and dull! Don't think I'll be selling a holiday to Louise. Obviously it gets great birds. Not much better than the RUBYTHROAT. It does however involve a lot of driving from one site to another, unless you stay faithful to one area/island of course.

Talking to the young uns in the car they are firm advocates of the far north. They feel Scilly has "had it's day". Weather patterns, shipping lanes...who knows? Nobody. You pays ya money, you takes ya choice. Mine will continue to be the (un)Fortunate Isles. Too many memories, too many great birds seen. It will strike again...hopefully between the 18th - 25th. Besides Louise loves it...thankfully!

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I received an e-mail yesterday from Simon Slade, a birder I met on Scilly last year and who stays in the same flats as we do. Last year when I came off I bumped into him again almost immediately at Full Sutton airfield as we twitched the CAPE MAY together. His e-mail informed me he was on the same ferry as we were on Sunday night! He managed to capture a great image of the RUBYTHROAT. Believe me, this wasn't easy! It was hard enough to get a decent view through the bins.

Anyway, here it is...

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Got a phone call from Andrew (Kinghorn) to say he'd connected with the SCARLET TANAGER on Barra on Wednesday. Quite a trip as he's also twitched the LITTLE CRAKE at Minsmere on Tuesday. These youngsters have so much energy...and time! He went with Dan Pointon via Skye and the Uists, returning to Oban. Something to bear in mind for the future...retirement...if I get there!

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Dawn at 7.22 tomorrow. I'll be down the clifftop till 10...