Shetland Misfit: Owl Town

Thursday, 27 October 2011

Owl Town

At last the wind has died down a bit, only 25mph today as opposed to 45 yesterday. After noticing that the Great Tit was in the garden and flushing a Long-eared Owl out of the honeysuckle hedge, I set off around the patch. As soon as I got over the fence 6 Short-eared Owls came out of the field by the house, followed shortly afterwards by a Little Auk out from Scord Beach, and then the 'bastard bird' of the autumn - a locustella kicked up 3 times from the dunes by Scord, before it just disappeared into the marram grass, despite extensive tramping and thrashing the grasses with a stick, the bird was never seen again. Around the Old Scatness dig another 2 Short-eared Owls were put up, and anothe 3 came in off the sea down at the south end of Scatness - making 11 in total for the day ! Elsewhere around the patch were - 120 Barnacle Geese, a Robin, a Blackcap and a late Wheatear.

Short-eared Owls - inc a couple coming in off the sea

Great Tit

Barnacle Geese

2 comments:

pim wolf said...: Hi Steve,

finding a locustella and not being able to clinch it must be one of the worst experiences any birder can have. Your thanks for owning up? 0 comments...

We have just sent a Long-tailed Shrike your way, when you are finished with it, send it back please.

rgrds, pim wolf; 1 November 2011 at 22:13
Unknown said...: that's the way it goes sometimes, not all birds are showy, frustrating I know, but I've found Lancy in the past on my patch , so I can live with it !; 2 November 2011 at 10:50

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 !!!!