Thirty Years Ago - September & October 1996

1^st September

Down to Cliffe Pools with Pete but there was absolutely bugger all bar five Little Egrets [Eds: already getting blasé] and an interestingly illegal drive around the perimeter track.  There were a few Whinchats and Stonechats, two Wheatears and loads of Yellow Wags.

7^th September

Off for a wedding of Uni friends in Doridge [Eds: whose names will remain hidden as it did not last very long…] and of course I had to stop in Huntingdon for a female Red-footed Falcon.  I had magnificent close views as she hawked over the pits and farmland.  After scrumping some hedge Plums I hopped back in the car and continued on my way.

8^th September

I got home at 1.45am and rung Andrea when I woke up and suggested we pop up to Norfolk [Eds: How very odd…]  Holme was stop number one and within a short while one of the Red-breasted Flycatchers popped out and showed very well in the Sea Buckthorn. A typically peachy throated bird. We saw Pied Flycatchers too, Whinchats and four Redstarts and lots of Tits but few Warblers.  Marsh Harriers quartered the fields.

The paddocks gave up more Redstarts and Spotted Flycatcher but no Wrynecks or Barred Warblers but seawatching from the dunes was more successful with all four Skuas, Gannets and Fulmars logged.

We had to queue to get into Titchwell but it was worth the wait as the scrapes were full of waders including a flock of Curlew Sandpipers and eight Little Stints. Three Wood Sandpipers tottered around the edge and Sammy the Black-winged Stilt was on show too.

There were Avocets, Godwits, Curlews and Whimbrel and amongst the eclipse duck was a single Garganey.  Down at the sea and despite blowing sand and bad birdwatchers I clocked up two fine adult Sabine’s Gulls and a flock of Scoter than landed with some Eider.

The walk back produced a Little Egret, several Bearded Tits and a juvenile Redshank that was a Lesser Yellowlegs for two whole agonising minutes.  On to Burnham Overy Dunes to look for a Lesser Grey Shrike and after a short battle to persuade Andrea that she really did want to walk the mile and a half to the bird we set out.  The walk was enlivened by Yellow Wagtails and a juvenile Siskin that was so tame that I almost trod on it.

The Shrike was a real poser on the fence line with a bright pink flush on the breast – my fifth adult – a 1^st winter would be great! [Eds: Still not seen a UK one!]

A leisurely drive along the coast gave us Egyptian Geese and a Little Gull at Cley and a fine meal at the Chequers in Binham before heading home in the dark.

11^th September

A quick dash after work to Abberton for two juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpipers that were wandering up and down the margins of the causeway. Both showed wonderfully well and we also found five Little Stints, Dunlin, Ruff and Redshank.  An eclipse Garganey was with the closest group of dozing brown ducks.  I headed to the Kettles for a mumped dinner!

14^th -15^th September

A lovely weekend spent with Roy W and AC in their new house in Llannon, south of Aberystwyth. The weather was gorgeous and Red Kites and Buzzards performed well where ever we went.

21^st September

I tried for the Blue-winged Teal and Long-tailed Skua at Abberton but despite hours of searching we failed but did see the remaining Buff-breasted Sandpiper amongst a much increased flock of waders with hundreds of Dunlin, 50 Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers and a brief Pectoral Sandpiper was seen too.

We headed to The Naze but it was quiet bar a few Lesser Whitethroats, four Pied Flycatchers, eight Firecrests and a brief Ring Ouzel [Eds: I had a funny idea of ‘quiet’ back then] A final look for the Teal was fruitless once again.

22^nd September

A day out at Ickworth House in Suffolk produced many Tits including two Willows, Nuthatches, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

2^nd October

A frantic dash to Languard after work for the Crested Lark was a failure due to it buggering off ten minutes before I got there.  We searched but it must have gone into the docks. It reappeared ten days later briefly.

However all was not lost as the elusive Western Bonelli’s Warbler suddenly decided that the time for hiding was over and it showed very well in the Tamerisks.  My 8^th in the UK [Eds: This species subsequently became very rare in the UK]

4^th-13^th October  Cape Clear, County Cork

4^th: Steve B and I flew from Stansted to Cork and a couple of interesting bus journeys ensued to Baltimore where the night was spent sheltering form a force 8 storm in the local youth hostel.

5^th: Half a day was spent around the town before catching the boat to Cape Clear.  There were lots of finches on the move along with Mipits and Skylarks. Other highlights included 20 Chough, two Raven, 13 Hooded Crows and 18 Rock Doves.

The rest of the holiday was a bit of ablur with what we saw and when but the birds were thin on the ground and the actual birding difficult.  The weather ranged from howling wind and rain to calm and sunny and different depending on where you were on the island.

A Wryneck was seen almost daily while Choughs, Raven, Rock Doves and Peregrine were daily finds.  Robins and Wren dominated the small birds.

Seawatching form near the Blanan was exciting at times but never phenomenal.  My personal highlights were the cetaceans with many Porpoises and several pods of Common Dolphins but it was the three sightings of Minke Whales and the superb Irish hospitality that made my trip worthwhile rather than the appalling Observatory accommodation and substandard birding.  

[Eds: I actually have very few memories of this trip.  I can picture the tiny wooden bunk that I slept in along with the bottle of Jameson that I had bought on the plane, the horror of having to go outside if you needed the loo to go into an unlit outbuilding that was occupied by the biggest House Spids I had ever seen, to having a wee off the quay in the night because the ‘shed’ was too terrifying.  I can’t remember eating anything at all!]

18^th October

It was obviously not my month as the Northern Waterthrush had departed Portland Bill the previous evening into the stomach of a Sparrowhawk which unfortunately never made it onto the news services!.  The weather was terrible and after seeing a couple of Firecrests we came home via a non-existent American Sparrow. [Eds: so cryptic! I have no idea where or what it was meant to be!]

21^st -25^th October

Our first family trip away with a Sun Holiday to the Norfolk Broads actually began at Languard where a Pallas’s Warbler did not show but the Bonelli’s Warbler was still around and once again showed very well.  A call attracted my attention and the alarm bells went off and I knew immediately that it was a Crested Lark but where was it.

I quickly located it as it landed along side a Wheatear.  It took a couple of minutes for it to sink in but there it was standing in front of me on the rabbit cropped turf.  It was not like I hadn’t seen one before!  I waved at the crowd watching the Bonelli’s Warbler.  Someone waved back but no one answered the beckoning arm!

The Crested Lark called and flew soon after and seemed to drop down inside the main compound at which point ran to the assembled birders.  Despite extensive searching we could not refind it and some of the comments where somewhat cruel.  I was gutted that it was not seen again and I only told two people subsequently about but stroke of luck.  Birders can be complete bastards at times.

I had still seen a Crested Lark though and it was a great start to our holiday as we continued north to Stalham where we would pick our boat up.  Pinkfeet winking overhead greeted our arrival.

The rest of our Broadland Holiday was superb and I thoroughly enjoyed being helmsman of our small boat.  It was peaceful and after a somewhat nervous first day it was relaxing although I never really mastered parking!

I saw five Whooper Swans, lots of Egyptian Geese, flocks of erupting Bearded Tits, numerous Tits including Willows at several sites, just the one Marsh Harrier, Kingfishers, Cetti’s Warblers and lots of thrushes.

On the way home on the 25^th we called into Great Yarmouth where a couple of Med Gulls were seen before we hit the arcades!

26^th October

A quick turn around and then north to Seaton Snook to see what some were calling the Great Dot but I was more than happy with my views of the Great Knot as fed out on the estuary.  The light was ok and if you hunkered down out of the wind all the detail could be seen.  Happy to have see this mega rare wader we soon left this horrible site via the sand dunes where dubious blue patches were leeching through.

Pinkfeet passed over before we started back for home and an obliging Cattle Egret at Thorne near Darlington.

27^th October

A one bird trip the next day down to the Lizard with the Kettles [Eds: it was their anniversary day out!] and Tony Wells.  A Little Bustard had been seen the previous afternoon careening  around the headland.  Our chances looked remote but luck was on our side and we were in the right spot when Simon Cox and Clive Ireland refound it about two hours after it got light. There was a panicky five minutes but I then found it as it flew close to us and zigzagged back into the driving mist and drizzle.

As the weather improved we saw it a further three times and each viewing got better.  This was on my list of birds I most wanted to see and was a real bonus after a troublesome autumn.  Cold, wet and happy we headed for home.