Wrong again

Well yesterday i uummed & Ahhed about going for the Red-rumped Swallow at Ferry meadows,but with the overcast weather and lack of photos on the net,i decided (stupidly) that it cant have been showing very well and grey skies really dont make for good flight shots.So when a R-r Swallow was found at Rother valley CP this morning-and with blue skies,i thought AHA,i bet this will be a showy one, ok away we go..........hmmmm well when i arrived the bird was showing very very distantly,no chance of photographing it-it then disappeared for c40 mins........eventually, i picked the bird up behind the crowd, over trees bordering the golf course.......had about 10 secs on the bird before it disappeared,sometimes it feels worse to see a bird so frustratingly than not to see it at all !!! Hung around 30mins-no sign,headed home !!! Meanwhile Ferry Meadows bird showing well and great pics now online !! Bad move Mark...bad move ! Consoled myself with the Railway pit at Hoveringham......VERY heavy rain showers VERY brief sunny intervals,cold and windy-very much like FEBRUARY !! Lots of Hirundines (mainly Swallows,and no,no R-RS) Loads of Swifts,a Buzzard came out to dry off,as did Little Egret....Little Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher and that was your lot !!! Basically DOG SHIT !!!!

Very sunny-really quite dull.

I think the one thing that can be said about birding in a land locked county,is very rarely is it exciting......infact 99% of the time it really is pretty demoralising.Yesterday one such day.Quite warm,plenty of sun,first day of may....Hoveringham railway pit.3 Swallows,1 Great Spotted Pecker,3 Oystercatchers,4 Dunlin,3 Ringed Plovers,4 Common Sands,4 Little Ringed Plovers,3 Blackcaps,2 Whitethroats,4 Chiffchaffs,2 Sedge Warblers,3 Reed Warblers,1 Kestrel.....oh and 1 dead dear by the railway (Roe?? any suggestions welcome,presumably hit by a train).

A touch of red and a touch of pink.

Well what another glorious day yesterday was,not much doing birdwise-but you have to at least get out for a walk.Hoveringham railway pit seemed appropriate considering i still cant walk brilliantly !! Anyway there wasnt alot doing couple of Yellow wags,quite a few Willow Warblers...1 Greenshank and 3-4 Little Gulls,i got a touch of sunburn not comparible at all to the beautiful pink hue of this delicate bird.

Summer plumage-yep in my shorts.

Well what a glorious friday....and suprisingly even better on saturday.Not really much doing locally so just to enjoy the beautiful weather,decided to have a wander around the sailing lake (i was informed the GWE was still knocking about,but more elusive than ever,if i see it il post pics)Anyway it was my first outing of the year in shorts and t-shirt-first of many hopefully !! Nothing major seen....three Yellow wags,two Willow Warblers,and one Sedge Warbler (lovely to see them back) three Sand Martins through and Little Ringed Plovers nesting on a very small patch of waste land.Anyway never mind the birds......days like this feed my soul!

Incoming

Hoveringham sailing lake,good friday.Migrants arriving now,hundreds of hirundines over the lake...mostly Sand Martins but also many Swallows,first two Yellow Wagtails of the year too......really looking forward to spring.

Calmed right down.

Ok,on the face of it,Two Alpine Swifts,Lesser Kestrel and Great Grey Shrike doesnt sound like a bad day does it....but i have to tell you in my whole birding career,i have never been more pissed off than i was yesterday!!! Well first you have to take into account i made the journey to East Suffolk once on saturday,only for the Pallid Swift to disappear on me-then for it to show well the next day,along with two Alpine Swifts at Lowestoft,and to top it off a Bloody Lesser Kestrel at Minsmere/Dunwich.Also you have to take into account my birding hoppo cant drive far because of some undiagnosed hip/knee/back problem that is agony after 30mins in the driving seat....so the driving is down to me who shouldnt be sitting for more than 20 mins !!! I wasnt overly keen to twitch the Pallid Swift on sat never mind again.........anyway Monday(couldnt go monday docs,Physio ect) afternoon Lesser Kestrel not seen since late afternoon...Pallid Swift drifted off -trip off (have seen all before so no big deal really).Tuesday morning all were back-FUCK !!! Ok i was ready at 8.30 ....hoppo pissed about till nearly 10am ...my temper was up...no worries though birds would soothe all worries.......then Lesser Kestrel not seen again,Pallid Swift drifted off...ok we can get the Alpines,i can get some great pics...oh FUCK !!! i cant its pissing it down with rain !!! temper up again.Arrived at Lowestoft,parked up-bloody hell two Alpines above the appartment block,rain stopped sky clearing.......grabbed camera,followed swifts up the side of building,to get the light....round the corner they went-round the corner i went,down the other side of the building they went-i went......round the other corner they went and then FUCKED off into the distance!!!! BOLLOCKS!! They came back for 45 seconds and some crap images captured .......40mins later still no sign.......blue sky heading my way...perfect for swift photography and they would surely come back! Never mind said hoppo,the Kestrel is back.....hmmm i said its distant you know......cracking bird though he said.....ok we can come back here later.....blue sky bound to have gone here but it will make the Kestrel view hazy........talk about self fulfilling prophicies (spelling??) I already knew it was gonna be a crap day!! Well lets talk Kestrel what an absolute fucking joke!!! about half a mile away a hawthorn-somewhere there it was........ 1 hour later (with Alpine Swifts and now the Pallid swifts showing well) A fucking hazy rusty coloured shape,seeming to be sat on a post.....was it a bird???? All the time people all around counting its primary coverts and marvelling at its yellow cere !!! FUCK OFF !!!! see my photo!!! Right i was now REALLY PISSED OFF !!! Great grey Shrike was found........bloody hell fire.....that dot in the birch....what a waste of time!!! See photo! Right Pallid swift blue sky...consolation !!?? oh its clouding over now...FUCK!!!! Kessingland......is the Swift still showing?? No mate flew south 20 mins ago!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK !!!! 30mins and 2 White wags later, 5.40pm heavy rain set in.....what a thoroughly BASTARD of a day !!!!!!!!!! We did everything wrong...wrong place wrong time....timed perfectly.........what did hoppo have to say..........we should have set off earlier !!!!!!! AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH And to top it all off best shots of either the Pallid or Alpines was today with the beautiful azure blue skies !!! AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH