Not a bird this one.

In 2018 during one of our trips/tortures we came across an interesting chap who told us about all manner of local wildlife, birds, snakes and butterflies he was very keen on directing us to Marsh Fritillaries and recommending the excellent book The Butterfly Isles once he finished the butterfly chat I had to rewind to the snake bit, "oh I always see them there" he said dare I ask where there was? Of course I dare and he kindly told us of "his special place" but we could not tell a living soul. This reminded me of a lake  I was sworn to secrecy about that held loads of fish that nobody else knew about or fished for and when I turned up at 05.00 everyone else and his dog knew about it too as I could not even park let alone fish, so I was a bit sceptical to say the least.

On arrival at the special place there were no other cars because there was no parking places so far so good, we walked to the first marker now we had to tread carefully. One hour and two hundred yards later nothing that resembled a worm let alone a snake, two baby steps later all changed as a female Adder came sliding towards us in a second she sensed us and slithered into the undergrowth. She was an adult female at least 30 inches long, my estimate of length is based on the butt/handle of a fishing rod which is normally 26/28 inch. This encounter was truly memorable and made the hairs on my neck stand.

Later in the year we called again, one visit and came across eleven small Adder 12/16 inch all females, we then gave it a rest until 2019 one visit when we then had twenty one females with six being adults. This was the Magic Moment.

We have just been back once more.

A male eludes us and we never went looking for the Marsh Fritillary but we both read the book. 

A truly magic moment about 30 minutes ago (1.15pm). Went out on our front drive to check the weather/garden and glancing down the road towards Hale Road briefly saw a female Mallard followed by 5 ducklings turning the corner about 50m away from where I was standing!!!!. It is a very busy road and a lady driver stopped to ask "if I'd seen the ducks". She said that she first saw them higher up the road and stopped the traffic while she ushered them to safety on the pavement. She had noticed that they had come into our road but hadn't seen them go back to the main road, she went off in search to see if they were ok. I had a hunt around but no sign. Trying to work out were they had come from, King George's pool and Stamford park lake are the nearest waters but quite a distance for ducklings to "waggle" on such a warm day, amazing Hope they make it back to safety.

It seems from what I glean from the media that recently due in the main to lockdown factors rather more people than usual have taken to actually looking at birds and insects in or around their gardens, and in so doing expressed a degree of delight and amazement at what is around them.

Last week at the request of a close friend Harry, I took one of his pub pals Alistair (in his mid seventies) to see his first Nightjars, a few pairs of which are to be found barely 4 Kms. from where we live just outside our village, - these I have monitored annually for some twenty odd years. The news travelled inevitably, with the result that last night I took Doug, a non birding octogenarian friend of Alistair, who had also expressed a wish to see the birds.

We met up in different cars at 9.45 pm with woodcock already performing overhead on their roding flights, - appropriate support acts for what was to come. This section of conifer forest was clear felled about 6/7 years ago, and the replacement plantings are now up to 10/12 ft. tall. The forestry people did however leave a scatter of 15/20 remnant high stumps from the older trees, (not unlike telegraph poles), from the tops of which Tree Pipits launch their daytime song flights from April through May, and from the end of May our 3/4 pairs of Nightjars undertake their nightly churring duties from any of these lofty perches.

Well, last night with perfect conditions, my expectations were high, and so the pressure was on to pick the right vantage point and set the scope up onto the likeliest perches. I showed Doug the fine focus dial, explained what to listen for, especially the coic flight call and not to stray away from the scope. Churring started up at 10.25 and I glimpsed the first bird flying just above the treetops shortly after, then a bird on my first choice perch, but it moved off before Doug could reach the scope.

Then a bird on a different perch which meant resetting the scope but it too moved off before Doug could see it. I reset on the original perch, told Doug to check the focus for his eye, and waited. I saw the bird land through my bins, told Doug to get to the scope, pronto. He did, but said he couldnt see the bird, which was still there. I checked the scope the bird was perched still, typically along rather than across the short bare diagonal branch. Doug, I said the bird IS the end of that branch it looks like the blob end of that branch, keep looking and you will see it fly off. He did, and looked up beaming. -Its bigger than I imagined- he said. The show went on, we had a bird land on the track ahead of us- a male, which we were able to scope up. Flight calls, but no wing clapping, and several silent fly past encounters, then as we were making to leave, a nice final parting as two birds together drifted by, gliding a little, in a close prolonged semi circle around us, - magic!

We cracked a can of beer each and drank a toast to - what else! - Nightjars of course!

The nice thing about all this sort of thing is that its good PR for birding, but when you are with someone new you share the thrill of discovery all over again, no matter how many times you may have done this before.

I asked Doug if he was in danger of becoming a birder. He wasnt he said, his next priority was to go up in a hot air balloon.

Regards,

Mike P.

Well Mike not sure our magical moment writings can match that or John Rayner's finding of the Red Throated Pipit - in fact we don't even see our bird in this magical moment !!

2019 was to be a year when Cath celebrated a significant birthday so in 2017 plans were laid as to where we might venture to celebrate this event.  My suggestion of the Galapagos Islands was dismissed as it was too far to travel.  So I was shocked when Cath came up with a tour of Ireland.  However, this was her choice so research was done on travel, accommodation and most importantly what birds were we likely to see. During 2018 everything had been planned, booked, paid for and all we had to do now was wait for the big day.

22 June 2019 we drive over to Holyhead.  After leaving port, the first lifer in the form of Manx Shearwater is ticked off within 10 minutes.

Travelling from Dublin to Wexford we stopped off at Kilcoole and tick off Little Tern.  A few days of B&Bs and travelling round taking in the sights of Ireland we are finally on the road to locate the next bird.  This was always going to be a tough ask, however, on the journey to the West Coast we fell upon a recently opened visitor centre.  Upon entering the centre, a young girl immediately got into conversation with us, took us to a large map and pointed out one or two places of interest.  On the information board was a picture of our target bird.  Without beating about the bush, we asked her "Are there many of these around here then?" to which she surprisingly replied "Oh yes." and promptly showed us areas on the map where we might be successful.   We thanked her and went upstairs to the cafe for a bite to eat.  

The young lady came upstairs to find us and said that she could put us in contact with a chap who monitors these birds in the area.  You could have knocked us down with a feather when she gave us this information.  We quickly said "Yes please" and she said she would give us a phone number after we had finished eating.  After quickly finishing our meal, we went downstairs and got the telephone number.  She then added that she had been in contact with the chap and he was going out that evening to conduct a count of the birds and we were welcome to join him.  We just needed to contact him for the details.  

We left the visitor centre and headed to our next accommodation which was literally just a few miles from the area that had been highlighted to us where the birds were.  I tried several times to make contact with the chap but to no avail and we began to wonder if we had been given some duff information.  Eventually, at around 6 pm, we finally made contact with the chap and all arrangements were made to meet on that very evening at 9.30 pm.  

We obviously turned up well before the given time and waited around the location.  9.30 came and went with no sign of our contact.  Then all of a sudden we heard someone shout, looked over and there was a little chap frantically waving at us.  We drove 100 yards up the road and met up with Liam who told us to drive a little bit further up the track to where his vehicle was parked.  We were now ready to start our count and, with any luck, observations.  Liam had already told us that he had counted a dozen birds on the previous evening. We stood in the area and listened out and then Liam said that he could hear them.  We both listened intently.  I was of course useless because of my tinitus and Cath was the first of us to pick up the call.  Being directed to where I should be listening, I eventually picked up the unmistakable crex, crex of this bird.  We were then told that there was another one calling.  For the next two hours we were privileged to hear the non stop calling of the Corncrakes, six in total.  

We were stood on a track, to the right of us was a huge mound that contained just nettles, to the left of us was a field fenced off with long grass so to actually spot these birds was impossible.  Liam informed us that the closest bird could be as little as just 15 feet away.  He told us he was then on his way to go and count more Corncrake further along the road and we were welcome to join him.  However, we were  basking in the delights of the calling around us, we thanked him for all his help in experiencing this fabulous moment.  

The following morning after breakfast we had to pass the site of our previous night's success and we could not possible drive by so we drove up the track, parked up and again listened in case there were any birds around.  To our amazement, the now familiar call, came again with at least three birds calling.  We left the site just as we had left it the night before - on a high.  Another truly magical moment without even seeing the target bird.  It had always been on my list after watching a programme in the 1980s showing the decline of the birds in the West of Scotland so it was amazing having finally caught up with the Corncrake. 

The rest of the trip produced a pair of Great Skuas with two chicks on Rathin Island along with reports of three Corncrake, one of which had been photographed just a day earlier on Rathin.

2019 was a fabulous year as it had provided three truly magical moments and there was to be one more to come! 

A Forest Farce - S E Brazil (Oct/Nov 2006)

Firstly, a bit of history to put this tale into context -

During that great era of pioneering ornithological discovery covering much of the 19th century, about 20 specimens of a scarce range restricted species, the Black-hooded Antwren were collected from the coastal forest area of S E Brazil, after which the species went unrecorded for over a hundred years. It was possible that as the tide of discovery moved on elsewhere the species was overlooked or forgotten, along with its habitat preferences and vocalisations. Also much of the coastal lowland forest became fragmented or vanished in the face of farming and development.

In the fullness of time the Black-hooded Antwren joined that group of mythical seemingly unattainable species known only from museum specimens, - voice unknown, and by now, possibly extinct. 

In the 1980s and 1990s a new wave of strongly motivated researchers and birders armed with mist nets, modern optics, and sound recording gear began anew a systematic exploration of South Americas massive avifauna in a search for both new and lost species. The results were startling. N E Brazil produced the stunning Araripe Manakin, and the Pink-legged Graveteiro, (a common bird in its restricted range, which had simply been previously overlooked by ornithologists). The tiny but legendary Kinglet Calyptura, missing for 130 years was refound in 1996 in Orgaos Nat. Pk. not far from Rio de Janeiro, only to vanish yet again.
The subject of our tale, the Black-hooded Antwren was also rediscovered, - in 1987 occupying 7 fragmented sites in secondary forest, also near Rio.

My interest in this species arose out of my friendship with a Dutch birding companion of previous trips, Harry Rijken who is the named sponsor of this bird in the Red Data book. Therefore before ever travelling to Brazil, and with no expectation of ever seeing the species in life, I was already familiar with its history and field characters, though not its vocalisations. It is admirably depicted in Tudor and Ridgeleys classic work on the passerines of S. America.

Thus it transpired that on an early November morning, being the last full day of a self organised 17 day trip, our team of 6 (comprising Tony Armstrong, Neil Marshall, John Rayner, Doug Smith, Fred Wake and myself) found ourselves creeping through the forest of the Fazenda Fortaleza, armed with info. from a Dutch team who had quite readily found the species here a year earlier.

One of us played the song of the bird from time to time as we progressed, looking and listening of course for other species as well as the main target, the Antwren.

Over the previous fortnight we had found an impressive number of rarities and endemics, - Thick-billed Saltator, Fork-tailed Tody-Tyrant, Restinga Antwren in its small diminished coastal scrub habitat, and best of all - a pair of White-bearded Antshrikes, quite unexpected, and arguably the most wanted of its genus, being the only antshrike in Birdlife Internationals threatened species category.

Meanwhile back to the present, our quest in the Fazenda was turning out rather underwhelming with slow rather low key results after a couple of hours invested- both Plain and Spot-breasted Antvireos and little else of note. Just where the hell was the Antwren which the Dutch had found quite easily? With time passing we had doubled back along the trail and were seriously thinking about cutting our losses and moving off elsewhere.

We then bumped into a Rufous-tailed Jacamar (a self found lifer for Tony) a rather more handsome creature than the rare and aberrant rather dingy Three-toed Jacamar seen earlier on the trip; - morale picked up. Suddenly behind the jacamar appeared a foliage-gleaner giving point blank views; I checked its supercilium - Ochre-breasted Foliage Gleaner- I whispered, (another trip tick). Suddenly it became apparent that a small but active feeding flock had materialised close by. Streak-capped Antwrens vied for our attention at minimum focus, then suddenly a rarity - Unicoloured Antwren, a male! This was a lifer for all of us. A Scaled Antbird passed by, then an obvious readily identifiable (in this area) Yellow-rumpled Flycatcher perched in full view.

I was watching this bird, drinking in every plumage character, when into my peripheral view appeared another bird, which then perched obligingly close to the flycatcher. I saw every detail instantly and actually felt my scalp tingle at the realisation of what I was seeing. I had known this bird so well and for so long, and this encounter was now among those defining moments that only birders can appreciate. The surge of relief had to be shared, quickly!

All this had happened in a flash, and within an instant of the first glimpse I had whispered (albeit with a note of urgency)-

-Ive got the Antwren!- (No need to say which Antwren, as my tone had conveyed that). - Look behind the flycatcher, - male Black-hooded Antwren!

-And a female with it now- was the response. Sure enough as I scanned, - we had a pair!

Both birds lingered for some 10/15 seconds before drifting offstage with the little mixed flock. We were all left beaming with utter elation and relief, surely now the high point of our trip?

The inquest began. One of the group remarked, - Its funny how those birds just gave themselves up so readily after totally ignoring our efforts to call them out, - what luck to hit that little flock.

We busied ourselves writing up our notes, and various names were being called out and checked.

Whats that foliage gleaner called, Ochre-breasted or Ochre-bellied? and then, -The Antwren - Black-capped?
No! I retorted- Black- HOODED!

A short silence ensued.

Are you sure its not Black-capped?

Getting short on patience now, I pulled out my notes complete with my notes and an illustration, waving the paper in the enquirers face.-Black- HOOOOODED I mouthed with teeth gritted and eyes beginning to pop with incredulity.

There followed another silence.... then came the pearl.

I think Ive been playing the wrong song; - Ive been playing Black-capped Antwren.

A very long silence ensued. 

- What? For two hours? Are you serious? - Go on then, play Black- capped Antwren again

He did. It was so familiar to us that we could have sung the bloody song ourselves by now.

-Well then, can you now try playing BLACK-HOODED ANTWREN, please?

He did, and like rabbits out of a hat, out popped the pair of Black-hooded Antwrens again, before our very eyes! After all as the Dutch had found, they are SO responsive!

We all fell about laughing, literally in stitches, and although a short time later we were unable to draw out a calling Squamate Antbird, we were more than happy to at least hear one after the high drama of the preceding minutes.

Later we reflected on the irony of all this. Had we breezed in playing the correct vocalisation at the outset, we should have nailed our prime target quickly and would most likely have left after perhaps a half hour, never to encounter our mixed flock with its assorted gems. Its strange how things sometimes pan out for the best. We had found our Black-hooded Antwren the hard way, in the most memorable of circumstances by putting in the time. We had surely earned it and it had won our Bird of the Trip vote by a good margin, not because it was both beautiful and rare, but because it had held centre stage in our own Comedy of Errors.

Regards,

Mike P.

Craig Higson wrote:

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sid ashton wrote:

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A Magic Moment from 3 years ago today as reported in the Forest of Bowland thread:-

Went up to Dunsop Bridge this morning for a look at the male Pallid Harrier a cracking bird to watch sky dancing over the moors and close-to as it looked for prey. Males are exceptionally rare in the UK so it was worth the long walk up the valley. Other species seen:- Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Common Sandpiper, Wood Warbler, Dipper, Merlin, Red Grouse, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Willow Warbler, Ring Ousel, Raven and several forum members, good to see you folks. All-in-all a good day now that my legs and feet are recovering after the hike!!!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 You've just reminded me about this Sid! It was truly a stunning bird and I thoroughly enjoyed my two visits to see it. The first one could have really been a magical moment though. After a last minute decision to go I was in a rush as I'd only arrived at Dunsop Bridge at around 16:30 or so. I was rushing up the road, only stopping twice to briefly (<1minute) chat with a couple of birders I knew. Just as I got to the steep bends a dog walker, coming down the hill asked "Are you going to see the eagle?" "You mean the Harrier?" I replied. "No the eagle" was his response. I just nodded and said is it there and he said yes. 200yrds further on and the two birders still present were huddled over a camera. "Wow, you just missed it" they said, "We just had White-tailed Eagle being mobbed by the Harrier" and then proceeded to show me the photos. Still, I enjoyed a magical hour or so with the real star which put on a real display.

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 Yes Craig the Eagle was one of the reasons that I went up to Dunsop Bridge that day, it had been around a couple of days and I would liked to have seen it. I had seen the female Pallid Harrier at Welwick Salt Marsh a couple of months earlier but what a difference between female and male so I wasn't too disappointed with my Eagle dip  

sid ashton wrote:

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A Magic Moment from 3 years ago today as reported in the Forest of Bowland thread:-

Went up to Dunsop Bridge this morning for a look at the male Pallid Harrier a cracking bird to watch sky dancing over the moors and close-to as it looked for prey. Males are exceptionally rare in the UK so it was worth the long walk up the valley. Other species seen:- Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Common Sandpiper, Wood Warbler, Dipper, Merlin, Red Grouse, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Willow Warbler, Ring Ousel, Raven and several forum members, good to see you folks. All-in-all a good day now that my legs and feet are recovering after the hike!!!

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What seems to be a long ,long time ago in a galaxy far , far away.  I had the pleasure of being witness to the hatching of some very special little birds. Magic moments like this, for me possibly a once in a lifetime event. I must just have been at the right place at the right time to be blessed to bare witness. To stand there watching the eggs crack to finally them standing on their own two feet , will stay with me until the grave. 

A Magic Moment from 3 years ago today as reported in the Forest of Bowland thread:-

Went up to Dunsop Bridge this morning for a look at the male Pallid Harrier a cracking bird to watch sky dancing over the moors and close-to as it looked for prey. Males are exceptionally rare in the UK so it was worth the long walk up the valley. Other species seen:- Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Common Sandpiper, Wood Warbler, Dipper, Merlin, Red Grouse, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Willow Warbler, Ring Ousel, Raven and several forum members, good to see you folks. All-in-all a good day now that my legs and feet are recovering after the hike!!!

Mike Passant wrote:

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Hi Tony,

Your Hobby encounters appear indeed magical, I really enjoyed your account, so thanks for sharing that.

 

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 Thank you for those kind words Mike and also for starting the thread and I'm sorry for hogging it.....may I also say how much I enjoy your reports. 

I'm really enjoying this thread, have always liked reading these kind of tales from other forum members. I'm putting forward my fondest birding memory, but it's a bit closer to home than a lot of these, a bit more like Tony it refers to a British breeding species.

I only started birding in 2013, and I found this website on google immediately, and proceeded to scour it for information and suggestions on where to go. Little did I realize that it is one of the very best resources in the UK, in terms of the breadth and depth across an area at the scale of a county [or former county!], with so many active contributors. Total luck for me as a beginner. So thanks to everybody on that level in the first place, and Ian for running it. The forum is a key part of my story.

I did have some knowledge of birds from my childhood. I knew the common species and soon started picking them up, and I did a lot of birding in a local woodland, close to my home and work. In terms of a life list, I saw lifers like Nuthatch, Reed Bunting, Coal Tit, Treecreeper and one of the early exciting ones was Great Spotted Woodpecker. I think this is the sort of bird that really lets you feel like you're getting somewhere when you start birding - even though you soon start seeing them fairly easily, they might as well be invisible to the general public.

Through 2014 I got around a lot of GM sites and started making day trips to farther places like Parkgate, and the list was moving up towards 200. I kept going to the wood but along with that regular stuff I found myself getting more and more interested in a certain species that it turned out was basically never a picnic. This bird needed specific habitat and was locally rare. Through 2014 I had started meeting some of the guys who post on Manchester Birding. Somebody told me that my wood had actually held a pair of this species for a while earlier in the year. Maybe I wasn't much of a birder then, I had no idea!

Come the early spring I saw one day that a notable birder in GM had posted from 'my' wood. What were they doing there? A couple more posts appeared from non-locals. Then I got an excited text from someone saying 'get down there, I've just seen 'x'!'

Next day I worked from home and packed up my stuff a bit early, and got down to the wood. So familiar, literally the trees where I'd ticked Nuthatch, Blackcap, GSWoodpecker, and after a tense hour or so, suddenly a small bird landed about 10 feet from me on a dead tree trunk. Perfect male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker!! Sat there and then flew off again and that was it.

Normally I would have been right back there in the following days but I was heading down to Devon and so I didn't get back to the wood till the following weekend. I was onsite by 7am this time and the bird put on a show for a good half an hour, with me stood there watching it, completely spellbound. Basically still the best bird I've ever seen, the power of that experience comes back to me more often than any other and I have seen some pretty good stuff since. I think the location combined with the bird and the views just made it so wonderful.

Hi Tony,

Your Hobby encounters appear indeed magical, I really enjoyed your account, so thanks for sharing that.

John, I recall your Spurn trip and the story as you told it after the event, especially as two of the species would have been British ticks for me at that time = ouch!. Upon checking, it was not until 1997 that I pulled back Thrush Nightingale (Hartlepool), and 2002 for Blyths Reed (Filey).

I should normally have been on the Spurn trip with the three of you but was out of the game away in Greece at the time.

Happy Days!

Mike

As May fast approaches another recent magic moment comes to mind.  Almost a year ago, May 2019, took me down to Chew Valley Lake (CVL) in Somerset.  It wasn't birds that drew me down on this occasion to CVL but pike fishing.  However, anyone who is familiar with CVL will know that it is a magnet for birding and wildlife.  I was to be there for 4 full days.  

It was on my first day of fishing that I became aware of a couple of raptors over the lake as the noise given off by the hirundines was a real giveaway.  Upon glancing up it was obvious that some Hobbies had arrived.  For the next 10 minutes or so the fishing was abandoned whilst I watched these birds over the lake.  

The second day on the lake produced a spectacular hunting display over the lake and reed beds around Villice Bay as the Hobbies chased various darters and dragonflies.  In some cases the birds were no further than 15 feet away over the water.  The full colour of the Hobbies' red 'trousers' were clearly visible as the birds glided, accelerated and turned close by.  At this point I need to add that I was actually fishing from a boat which gave me the added advantage of being closer to the birds than most people could normally be.

On the third day I was in front of one of the main bird hides in Stratford Bay when again the Hobbies turned up and this time the aerobatic display was even better as they hunted mercilessly over the water going from one end of the vast lake to the other.  Again the proximity to these birds on occasions was just feet away.  On several occasions I could literally have reached up and touched them.  A truly remarkable experience that will long be regarded as a magic moment with these fabulous birds.  

Hi Rob,

It is a long story but my foot got trapped (as I pivoted) between the steel slats of the platform to the extent of around three inches due to a modification to the base, (as the operator had positioned the machine spanning a drainage gully in the pavement), therefore it was like performing on a cattle grid.

Ouch!!

Cheers,

Mike P.

I have always had a soft spot for cranes. After spending hours wandering round Chat Moss looking for a GM sighting then missing them at Hickling Broad, I finally saw my first (distant) UK crane 3 years later at Lakenheath. UK views are nothing compared to the huge flocks of Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska. Watching the sun rise over the Platte River today revealed what looked to be an island in the middle. As the light increased the "island" began to move and the calls grew to a crescendo when hundreds of cranes took to the air in unison filling the dawn sky. A truly magical lockdown moment which I have replayed several times. I am looking forward to them returning tonight. For anyone without a garden or a good site for "exercise" there is some spectacular birding  around the world via webcam. The live dawn flight started from about 12.15 UK time at rowe.audobon.org/birds/crane-cam

Well, - hoping that Im not boring people to death, heres another old tale from October 1981, - on Scilly again.This time things were different and difficult because I was hobbling around on crutches, having broken my ankle on Blackpool Pleasure Beach just days earlier.

The big bird that week was a (Western) Orphean Warbler which appeared periodically in a hedge bordering a field in Holy Vale. Despite putting in lots of time patiently waiting I failed to see this bird and days were passing without success, all the other birders on the island appeared to have seen it, and with only blistered hands to show for it I was feeling rather cheesed off.

There then followed a period of two days when there were no sightings (perhaps people had simply stopped looking for it) and I reconciled myself to the likelihood that it had gone, - I needed to move on as they say. I found myself sitting in the cafe at Lower Moors enjoying a pot of tea when in walked Mick Turton who sat down with a couple of his pals and casually mentioned almost in passing that the Orphean Warbler was showing again. Obviously my ears pricked up, I enquired as to its whereabouts, gulped down my cup of near scalding tea and set off up the hill like a man possessed, - a kind of rhythmic sprint on crutches.

I had total confidence that I was going to see this bird, - I just knew it. I reached the gate, relaxed and waited, and blow me down, - out popped the bird within minutes, in full view for a good  20 seconds or so. It was just like a lottery win! I threw the crutches down, and jumped high in the air on my one good leg (taking care to land on the same one). I downed a few pints that night.

On November 7th. I was in Magor, S.Wales twitching the American Bittern with John (Rayner). I was pretty grumpy, still on crutches, and having trouble negotiating a boardwalk with my crutches continually getting stuck in the wooden slats with everyone rushing past me. Needless to say we did enjoy good prolonged views eventually. Three weeks later my final crutch tick was Hudsonian Godwit in Devon.

As regards my accident, I later successfully sued the operator of the punchball machine on Blackpool Pleasure Beach (who had declined to settle), so it went to court where the judge heard my evidence and found in my favour. The real icing on the cake however was seeing that Orphean Warbler, which was a real blocker for me for about three decades.

Regards to all,

Mike P.

Hi Pete,

Slightly off topic here, but your double whammy with the Cuckoo duo strikes a chord with me. With respect, checking the dates, it was in October of 1985 when the two cuckoos turned up. I was scheduled to go to Scilly later that year but John Rayner and Tony Broome were going the same week as you and one of my big blockers over them had been the Spurn Yellow-billed Cuckoo of October 1978 (trapped by Barry Spence during my annual ringing week there with my trainer Cedric Lynch).

John and Tony obviously struck gold just as you did. After celebrating their great day in the pub, they rang me. 
Hi there - they said, giggling like kids, - guess what we had this morning

Hi, Go on then, tell me. -Yellow-billed Cuckoo!, - You buggers! I retorted with mock indignation. 
Guess what we had this afternoon.... Black-billed Cuckoo!! - What! Impossible! Youre pulling my leg?

But they werent of course. I had only ever seen Black-billed at Point Pelee Canada some 5 months earlier and to this day have never seen one in Britain. I therefore remain properly gripped off. I suspect their magic moment was not only seeing two megas in quick succession but really putting me in my box as well by telling me about it.

All good fun!
Regards,

Mike P.

Magic Moments again !

Horse of the Woods.  Nearly 12 months ago we visited the Highlands of Scotland.  We arrived at our accommodation and the plan was to walk through some of the woods in the local area over the course of the next three days.  The three main woods all had defined paths to accommodate both walkers, cyclists and horse riders.  

It would not be until the penultimate day that we would encounter the Horse of the Woods.  At 6.45 am on the day in question we walked along one of the paths and a cock bird flew from left to right disappearing into the other side of the wood, its powerful wing beats could clearly be heard even by me.  At 7.25 am we were approaching a junction on the pathway and whilst panning the area, I latched onto a big dark figure perched in a tree.  This was about 70 yards or so in front of us.  We watched this bird for several minutes before it decided to fly off.  Breakfast then beckoned back at the hotel.  

Later that day, we decided to take a walk in another wood in the area.  Around about 15 minutes after the start of the walk a black shape was perched on a branch at about 100 yards away.  The time was now 1.20 pm.  After walking around the area we headed back to the car.  

After our evening meal, we then decided to take a walk in the local wood.  At the bottom of the main pathway we took a break to have a look across a glade, coughed, and then immediately to my left a cock bird flew right across the glade into the opposite wood.  

After three years of looking for a cock bird unsuccessfully, within a matter of 13 hours we had seen four different birds in three different locations.  

Horse of the Woods is, I believe, a Scots Gaelic translation for the Capercaillie.  This bird  truly deserves this description as it absolutely awesome. Locations have not been mentioned for obvious reasons.

In this period of lockdown these memories are priceless and its a  privilege to read all the other accounts, thank you.

My job for 32 years as an hotel inspector with the AA gave me many opportunities to grow my British list.  
If a rarity turned up I was in a good position to swap jobs with other inspectors (within reason).
Some of the good birds ticked were..

Red Necked Stint..Blacktoft sands.....Yellow Throated Vireo..Cornwall.....Marmoras Warbler..St Bees......Spectacled Warbler .Languard.....Spanish Sparrow ..Cumbria......Cedar Waxwing..Nottingham......Harlequin Duck..Wick......Golden Winged Warbler..Maidstone.   The list goes on.

One day I will always remember was in September 2001.  I was booked in an hotel in Norfolk just as the Pallass Grasshopper Warbler was found on Blakeney Point. I parked at Coastguard and then set off along the point and as we know its a slog.  Arriving at the site, it was not long before the bird was on my list.  But then the heavens opened and The point is not the place to be with no shelter.  Thunder and lightening followed and the trek back to my car was horrendous and of course I got soaked and I in was my work suit. As I sat in the car drying out, the pager goes off Green Heron Messingham near Scunthorpe.  What to do?

i could not resist the challenge so I cancelled my Norfolk hotel and luckily had a hotel to stay near Scunthorpe!

Would I make it in time....checking the pager en route , its still there  I arrived at about 5.30 as most of the happy birders were getting back in the cars.  I ran down the path with shouts of its still showing.

Light was slowly going but the bird was still showing. We all know what a relief it is when you connect with the bird. Two megas in one day.

I have many happy memories of other working and combined twitching trips. 

Happy days.

Thats birding

John T

John,

With reference to your experience with the Green Heron and the Great White Egret, I have almost the identical tale to tell. Two days before your encounter, I had been away chasing around in Norfolk with Tony Broome. As I dropped him off in Hazel Grove I distinctly said to him- Whatever turns up next, Im not interested, I want a break.

I hadnt been home for fifteen minutes when Tony was back on the phone, - adult Green Heron on Humberside! Bloody hell! I replied, Ill pick you up in ten minutes!

Like you John, Great White Egret was also a British tick for me, date was 27/11/82, and at the time gave me the full set of UK Heron species.

My opening post on this thread was cut short as dinner was ready, but I wanted to make the point that the pleasure of enjoying a new bird is always sweeter in the company of a good friend and that its on such things that lifelong friendships are often founded.

Another tale therefore.....

In October of 1989, my wife and I found ourselves on a 12 day trip with good friends Richard and Bridget Gabb. We had booked a package holiday based on Cancun Mexico, but really used the hotel as a base and with a hire car set out exploring Yucatán.

Travelling inland we stopped at a roadside cafe and I realised that the locals were not speaking Spanish, so upon enquiry I found out that they were speaking Maya. The facial characters were obvious as well. They told me (in Spanish of course) that their culture and heritage were very much alive as the Spanish had never managed to defeat them. To cut to the chase we set about exploring Maya ruins and pyramids as well as enjoying some great birding. As well as visiting some well known sites like Chichen Itzá, we had a night or two at Coba, which was set in maturing secondary forest, overgrowing amazing ruins and huge stone heads and masonry blocks just scattered randomly on the forest floor. 
Rick and I ascended a huge steep crumbling pyramid from the top of which we could scan the trees at canopy level. There were no other people around and the first bird we saw up there was a spanking Golden-winged Warbler literally gleaming against the dark forest interior. I grinned from ear to ear, - Where did you last see one of those? I asked him.

February 89 he replied, Maidstone Kent. = Spot on! We laughed, - this bird we had all to ourselves on top of a pyramid, it was one of those moments when you wouldnt want to be anywhere else. The Maidstone bird had been the subject of the maddest twitch surely ever in Britain, absolute bedlam with J. Rayner and T Broome also present.

Lets hear some more, please.

Regards,

Mike P

Around 1995 I was in Norfolk on a fishing trip.  At this time I was interested in birds as I had been from 1975ish.

I had arrived at my chosen venue at about 4.30 in the morning.  I had not been set up long and heard an odd bird song that I had no heard before.  I had taken along a small pair of binos but had no joy in locating anything.  Another of couple of hours passed and I kept hearing the same call.  Eventually I wandered down a little bit and managed to see something in the canopy.  The bird kept moving around so I could not get a clear sighting.  During the course of the morning I kept catching a glimpse of a bird flitting across the river. 

Somewhere mid morning 2 fellas turned up in a Rolls Royce.  They walked over the bridge, headed towards me, both with binos.  They walked past without saying hello and proceeded to wander a couple of hundred yards down the river.  Several minutes later they were heading back towards me.   As they approached I asked what they were looking for.  We had a brief chat and told them that I'd seen a bird and pointed in the general direction that I'd see it earlier that day.

They headed to that area.  About 10 mins later they were heading back towards me and stopped for a brief chat to say they had not seen or heard the bird.  They headed back to the Rolls, had walked about 20 yards, I glanced to my left and the bird flew across the river again so I shouted them.  They came back and the looked for it again.  After about another 20 mins or so they headed back past me with no success.   Off they went back to their car.  

This time they had got about 100 yards, I glanced to my left and 2 birds flew across the river.  I again shouted after the 2 fellas.  Back they came!  They again searched for the birds, looked in the general direction for what seemed like another 20 mins or so and headed back towards me again.  They finally headed to their car.  At this point I daren't look to the left although I couldn't resist it and as I turned the 2 birds flew across yet again.  At this point I just could not call the 2 fellas back.

Once I knew they had left the car park, I wandered back down the river and glanced in the general area where I knew the birds had flown and at this point both birds were sat in full view.  This is the only time I have seen this species although hope it is not the last.  The birds were of course Golden Oriole.

Several years later I purchased a little lapel badge from the RSPB of the Golden Oriole.  I wore this on my fishing jacket although I didn't need reminding of the above experience, it always brought a smile to my face when I put the jacket on.  About 7 years ago, I lost the badge on the river and I was absolutely gutted.  However, several weeks later, fishing on the river, I looked down at my feet and low and behold, the lapel badge!   So the Golden Oriole has very special magic moments for me.  

Sorry if this has gone on and on, but on the day in question in 1995 it seemed to go on even longer and I really do hope that the 2 fellas got back to the river and eventually saw the brilliant birds.  

Here's mine,2 stand out both from horrocks  flash,the first one a confirmed sighting of Water Rail chicks,there was a full on screeching match going on between 2 adult Rail which got my attention,I saw 4 chicks scurry across a patch of exposed ground to a parent bird,this took under a minute I guess, digiscope disaster and pixelated images unfit for publication (and for now sealed in a broken hard drive)but still very pleasing to see.The second much more sketchy !! So bar room chat only I fear,as the local go to guy for all things avian I was approached by three people over a weeks space all three gave rough descriptions and numbers of a white duck with green bits 2 on the canal 20 or thirty on the front pool of Horrocks Flash,I am used to this kind of stuff and it normally gets lost,but I still wonder if I missed a flock of  Eider popping in for a mo.

Geoff only,the canine wonder hadn,t latched on back then.

Well, today I was finally getting fed up with Netflix, Killer Sudokus, and above all else, the ongoing depressing News, so instead I

indulged in daydreams mulling over happy birding in bygone days.

One instance came to mind from early October of 1999. Barb and I were on a month long trip with a certain Mr and Mrs Rayner and heading south out of Sydney, Australia we called into Royal Nat. Park. with a pretty good idea of the likely species we might see. I knew a promising site for one special bird in particular.....

I set up the scope and fiddled with the tripod and made a bit of a meal of it in the process, suddenly expressing dismay that something was wrong. John, I think the lens is cracked! I must have banged it somehow!, look at it.

John peered through the eyepiece, You bugger! he said, and then looked again at his first Tawny Frogmouth, perfectly focused and large as life.
We saw a couple more on our travels, as well as 3 Papuan Frogmouths, and an Australian Owlet Nightjar in the north.

Isnt birding something.

Regards,

Mike P.