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

Saturday 27th-yes i know posts wrong way round.

Ok so ive got the last two posts the wrong way around,this was the day before the last post (following me!!?) Anyway,decided to try again for better shots of the Hunstanton Alpine Swift and whatever else turned up.Stopped in at Hunstanton but the Swift had disappeared so went on to Titchwell,not much doing really,good views of Avocet,and pretty good views of a very tatty looking water Pipit,i presume it was wet and in heavy moult -pink starting to come through on the breast.Had just got back to the car park when a Pallid Swift came on from Kessingland Suffolk-hmmm can i risk driving that far with my dicky back....well my hoppo really wanted to see it,so ok off we went.11.45am..............1.30pm-pager message... no sign of the Pallid Swift since 12.15pm !!!!!!! I wish these messages would come on sooner !! Divert-Great Yarmouth-Med gulls!! Hope Pallid turns up........did it f*** !! Plenty of Med gulls on the sea front....lots of weird mouthy youths,apparently randomly shouting obscenities at anyone who would listen,and kids shooting holiday makers with catapults.........and the worst dried up chips ive ever had!!! Glad to go home!!