Shetland Misfit: July 2013

Monday, 29 July 2013

Two-barred

Juv Two-barred Crossbill at Sumburgh Head this morning.

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Out on the patch, for what seems like the first time in ages, mainly to look for any Two-barred Crossbills that might have dropped into Scatness - no luck there, but the day didn't pan out so bad. It started well enough with a female Otter and cub around the east side of the headland, I ended up watching them for nearly an hour before they noticed me ! After this checked all the thrift patches on the cliffs - waste of time, as there is hardly any thrift growing this year for some reason. A walk down to the loch to check to see if I could find any Ruff, and indeed there were four of them at the back of the loch, at this point I thought I was having a pretty good day on the patch for July, so I tried to get a bit closer to them for some photos. I'd only walked about ten paces when a Sandwich Tern flew in, well it was a Sandwich Tern until I got my bins on it, Christ on a bike - Gull-billed Tern !!!! The bird then hawked over the marsh at the back of the loch for about 15 minutes before disappearing out to sea into the fog - bugger ! It then returned after about 10 stressful minutes and continued to hawk insects again before disappearing into the fog again, it continued to follow this pattern for the rest of the day allowing most to catch up with it.

Gull-billed Tern

Otters

Friday, 26 July 2013

Vagrant, migrant and Scarce Moths

With the South-easterly winds over the last week mothing is starting to look good with around 100 moths trapped on most nights. The highlights so far - 27 Diamond-backs, 2 Flame Shoulders, a Mother of Pearl, a cracking Garden Tiger (second record for the garden) and a Bordered Sallow. The Bordered Sallow is the third record for Shetland, amazingly, I also caught the second record of this species on 2nd July last year !

Bordered Sallow

Flame Shoulder

Garden Tiger

Wednesday, 10 July 2013

Caspos

Had a walk along the banks of the river Wisla up to Katy and back - 2 Golden Orioles, a Green Woodpecker, 4 Great Reed Warblers, a Common Rosefinch, 20 Caspian Gulls, 3 Common Sandpipers, 5 Black Redstarts and a Buzzard - stinkin' hot all day until a massive thunder storm early evening cooled things down a bit.

Black Redstart

Caspian Gulls

Common Sandpiper

Tuesday, 9 July 2013

Peckers

Spent two days around Wolski Forest looking mainly for woodpeckers, a difficult but not impossible task in July, I hadn't banked on the evil Polish mozzies though ! So after two days I had to give up before I ran out of blood ! I did manage to get several of Grey-headed, Middle Spotted and Great Spotted, and heard a few Greens and one Black. As well as the Woodpeckers there were lots of Spotted Flycatchers, Nuthatches and Treecreepers, 4 Hawfinch, 2 Wood Warblers and a Red-backed Shrike.

Grey-headed Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Middle Spotted Woodpeckers

Nuthatch

Red-backed Shrike

Sunday, 7 July 2013

Hotel Birding

Having been travelling since Friday evening, totally knackered arriving in Krakow, managed a few hours along the river Wisla. Tree Sparrows everywhere, checked out a small willow area near to the hotel, amazingly it held 2 Serins, 10 Goldfinches, 3 Stonechats, 6 Icterine Warblers, umpteen Marsh Warblers and a Sparrowhawk. Also from the hotel - 2 flyover Black Storks and a few Caspian Gulls and Common Terns.

Serin

Tree Sparrow

Saturday, 6 July 2013

Little Terns

A few Little Tern pics from the Ythan today, and yes, it really was that sunny in Aberdeenshire !

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 !!!!