Shetland Misfit: Persistence Pays Off.

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

Persistence Pays Off.

Getting up this morning I wasn't too optimistic about there being any birds around (westerly gales for most of the night), however, 2 Blackcaps and 2 Garden Warblers in the garden indicated that something had happened. At 9am set out down the Scatness road - 2 Bramblings in the secret spud crop and a Short-eared Owl over towards West Voe of Sumburgh, that was pretty much it, apart from the 2 Pink-footed Geese still and a fly over Merlin. After 3 hours started to head back home, stopping to do the thistles and docks near Moast beach again, on the second sweep through flushed a small locustella from a small patch of docks, them lost it in the thistles for 90 minutes before flushing it again, this time I was pretty sure it had to be a Lancy, but on flight views only that's a pretty bold claim !! After eventually getting in touch with 'Bentos' and 'Gumbol', managed to get some help in pinning the bird down. After another 2 hours or so, with 5 of us walking back and to through the thistles and docks (SM,RF,GB,MR,AM), the bird gave reasonable views and a few shots were taken and we were all quite happy that it was indeed a Lanceolated Warbler ! I've walked through those thistles nearly every day since the end of August and apart from a few Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and a Song Thrush, this is the only bird I've seen in there.
Another bird of note was a rather fine looking Lapland Bunting on Moast Beach.

Lanceolated Warbler (should be some better shots soon).

A better shot from Gary.

Blackcap.

Brambling.

Lapland Bunting.

7 comments:

Marcus Lawson said...: "There's only one word for that Tony - Magic Darts!!"

Over the moon for you Steve, I know it's been hard going this Autumn even though on paper it looks pretty good. Unusually, south Mainland has been missing out on the action - until now!; 8 October 2009 at 08:34
Phil Woollen. said...: Nice one Steve. Shame it didn't turn up last week! Good find and one we don't expect to find on Hilbre.....................; 8 October 2009 at 09:14
ladonis said...: yeah well done pity about the island suppression though.we were in the area all afternoon and found out via a text from a pal as we were about to get on our flight home- after dipping on both the veery and the flycatcher that would have turned the trip around for me at least.we were south of aberdeen starting the long drive back to cheshire by the time it made the pager,really cant see the harm in letting some of the few visiting birders around share this difficult to connect with bird,ah well cest la vie....; 8 October 2009 at 09:20
Unknown said...: no suppression involved 'ladonis', as the views it was giving (i only had 2 brief flight views in 2 hours !), we weren't 100% confident of the ID until after 4pm, news was put out shortly after. until that point it was just a locustella sp, but probably a lancy; 8 October 2009 at 09:30
Rob said...: I've checked my phone and the news went out at 4.52pm. This was about 10 minutes after we had finally decided it was definitely a Lancy (and as Steve says, previous to that it had been a locustella sp due to the views we had got). When the news goes out locally it goes straight to Birdline Scotland at the same time, from where it should go on to pagers, Birdguides etc. We can only do so much... if we spent all our time ringing all the information services and everybody we knew was on the islands we'd never get any birding done!; 8 October 2009 at 09:36
ladonis said...: Ah well as i said cest la vie and maybe one day i will manage to see one-felt gutted being so close and circumstances all acting against us,only got on the flight 15 mins before it left as we were standby plus fred who was with me knows rob and he was going to give him a call when we were at virkie willows.A double dip turned into a treble and the Veery was still on Foula...Ouch! :~); 8 October 2009 at 10:51
Anonymous said...: Top find Steve. Really regretting not being up there this autumn. Had planned to come up in September, glad I didn't, but couldn't get Nordaherdigerdi out of Bentos. I coined that name as well yesterday and notice (first time viewer, first time poster) that you use it as well.
Lancy would be a lifer for me.
Oh well Scilly on Saturday... see if I can beat the crowds to an Eyebrowed Thrush or summat.; 8 October 2009 at 17:19

About Me

Sometimes I try to do things but it just doesn't work out the way I want it to, and I get real frustrated and then like I try hard to do it, and I like, take my time but it just doesn't work out the way I want it to. It's like, I concentrate on it real hard, but it just doesn't work out. And everything I do and everything I try, it never turns out. It's like, I need time to figure these things out, but there's always someone there going “hey Steve, you know we've been noticing you've been having a lot of problems lately, you know? You need to maybe get away. And like, maybe you should talk about it, you'll feel a lot better.” And I'm all like “oh, nah, it's ok, you know. I'll figure it out. Just leave me alone, I'll figure it out, you know? I'm just working on it by myself.” And they go “well, you know, if you wanna talk about it, I'll be here, you know? And you'll probably feel a lot better if you talk about it. So why don't you talk about it?” I go “no, I don't want to! I'm ok. I'll figure it out myself!” But they just keep bugging me, they just keep bugging me, and it builds up inside.I was in my house and I was just like staring at the walls thinking about everything, but then again I was thinking about nothing. And then my wife came in, and I didn't even know she was there. She called my name and I didn't hear her and then she started screaming “Steve, Steve !” And I go “what ? What's the matter ?” She goes “what's the matter with you?” I go “there's nothing wrong” She’s all “don't tell me that ! You're on drugs !” I go “FFS, I'm not on drugs. I'm ok, I'm just thinking, you know? Why don't you get me a Pepsi?” She goes “No! You're on drugs!” I go “I'm ok. I'm just thinking.” She goes “No! You're not thinking, you're on drugs! Normal people don't be acting that way!” I go “just get me a Pepsi ! Please, all I want is a Pepsi !” And she wouldn't give it to me! All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn't give it to me! Just a Pepsi !I'm sitting in my house, when a couple of my mates came in. they pulled up a chair and they sat down. They go “Steve, we need to talk to you.” And I go “ok, what's the matter?” They go “we've noticed that lately you've been having a lot of problems, and you've been going off on one for no reason, and we're afraid you're going to hurt somebody, and we're afraid you're going to hurt yourself. So we decided that it would be in your best interest if we put you somewhere where you could get the help that you need.” And I go “wait, what are you talking about, WE decided ? MY best interests ? How do you know what MY best interest is ? How can you say what MY best interest is ? What are you trying to say? I'm crazy ? They say they're gonna fix my brain. Alleviate my suffering and my pain. But by the time they fix my head, Mentally I'll be dead. They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution, to give me the needed professional help, to protect me from the enemy, myself !
Doesn't matter, I'll probably get hit by a car anyways !!!!