Twitching

I really don't like twitching but a Siberian Accentor 35 minutes from home was hard to resist. Monday was phone change over day, the day I dumped Vodafone after rather a lot of years and went over to GiffGaff. That all went very smoothly, keeping my number, except that I only got the text at 4.15 p.m. and not 2.30 p.m. ******!

Dippa doo, hardly surprising, it was after 5.00 p.m. when I finally got there.

So next morning, after a further coat of varnish went on the kitchen floor and the ponies and other and various critters were fed and watered I headed back to Deerness.

Tempting it is indeed to have a bit of a rant at this point over the whole business (twitching rarely seems to go well for me, although I will say that the Western Orphean experience the previous week was excellent, I was even offered a cuppa, thanks SW, and thanks MR for the crucial directions). The rudeness of one birder the previous evening had cast a bit of a cloud over the enterprise, and it is tempting to be a wee bit critical of the tactics of some participants in their attempt to see the bird. In complete contrast the finder of the bird was, as usual, so helpful, thanks again MR. 

I sat and sat by the likely spot for a good while but the site was busy, the bird was being seen right by the only access track, and then friends arrived so we went off for a wander round. Cora ate an already dead baby rabbit and tried to kill a brown rat. We got fleeting views of a Bluethroat. I photographed a Redstart that might prove interesting, I need to have a look at references. And by that time the site had quietened down. I was just on the way to sit back down again at my stakeout point when a bird flicked on to the muddy/poo patch, bingo! I ushered the remaining four participants over and we all enjoyed excellent views for a couple of minutes or so.

Siberian Accentor