Land End - Grey Catbird

The Grey Catbird at Lands End had captivated the attention of not just the birding fraternity but local news alike! I'd calmly sat out the storm of regional news / sightings whilst on St Mary's resisting thoughts of flying off... but after the Friday Scillonian gave no chance of getting there in daylight, it was back to hoping there wouldn't be a Friday night clearout!

I picked up Richard Stonier and Ash Fisher who had come on the boat and were staying nearby, before first light and with only a few miles to travel, we were there for the first call! (These pictures were taken much later!)

Another birding gateway to heaven?

And given the first Saturday chance for many, a pretty quiet start to the day!

After flicking about in the distant hedgerow, at 8.15 it finally gave a tickable view! Where's a Tunnocks Teacake when you need one? In the car sadly! It was calling regularly, often as it flew or landed in cover, so never too difficult to find.

This was the habitat viewed from far side of the site - a footpath leading behind the farmhousegains access...

And always seemed to be something in the way whilst pinning down that gorgeous rufous undertail...

Just about managed it here!

And then it was a question of dealing with highly directional harsh side lighting for an image or two?

The gallery number was steadily increasing although there was plenty of room and generally well behaved!

Eventually a few decent images covering all the angles as it emerged from cover!

An this was probably the clearest view I had! It's a relatively easy bird to 'see', getting an open clutter free view however took several hours!

But worth every minute ...

Stow-on-the-Wold - Blue Rock Thrush!!

The 'whatever' Blue Rock Thrush... Whatever the origins it was a cracking bird in brilliant sunshine! For most of the day, 'unobliging', skulking' and certainly giving the feel of a wild bird, then even when it did show well it wasn't for long! The 100's off birders who gathered in the confined estate today, were certainly endorsing it's credentials!

I'd spoken with Ian Grant the previous day and we both had reservations based on the 'rumours' about it's origin? With the morning starting to tick by, we both decided there was no evidence it wasn't a tickable bird and eventually hit the road...

We got parked immediately in the nearby 'pay and display' and after the 5 minutes walk to the residential area, it was showing on arrival!! And just in case I give the mistaken idea that it strutted feather detail to order, this was the sort of view it gave for the vast majority of the time...

"It's flying"; a frequent cry...

... and good news when it chose to perch lower down :-)

It took over an hour before my angst at only securing record shots turned to a smile as it posed low down on the first storey of this house!

And the blue plumage seemed to shine even brighter when not against the sky - even gutter worked nicely!

Nearly all of these images are from a magic couple of minutes when it showed it's socks or should I say clean feet off - no evidence of cage damage...

The was the closest approach and I remember thinking - it's going to fly?

And fly it did, but not out of view, landing on top of one of the driveway conifers less than 10m away!!

It didn't stay there for long and I wasn't the only one to get this amazing view :-)

Initially thought to be (by some) to be a presumed escape, it's an adult male - looking the business and I'm soooo glad we made the effort... 'whatever'...

St. Asaph - Black-throated Thrush!!

A busy start to the week had scuppered any chance to get over to St Asaph and with Ian Grant having today free, we decided to team up... We arrived at 8.45 and with no sign by then, decided to concentrate on the area over the river (viewing from the football ground side) where Alex Jones had prolonged views the previous day! It seemed  like a lost cause as we walked the river bank but  at 9.30, a birder excitedly waving from  the west bank signalled that the day was about to kick into gear? The Black-throated Thrush was on view and we had clear views of it one of the gardens, for the next hour, the decision not to cross the river was vindicated as we had it more or less constantly in view for the next hour!! Mostly distant but occasionally coming closer...

The initial garden views whilst nothing special, ticked the Thrush for both of us!

Quite mobile, it flew left in front of the houses...

Until on a line with the New Inn pub, anyone thinking of going should bear that in mind as a pointer - it does favour the trees and bushes adjacent to this...

... and the stubble field to the south! (This pic was taken at dusk)

The highlights of the day were two prolonged views from the east bank of the river, firstly in one of the taller trees...

 

Followed by the most unlikely of encounters as we followed it upstream with three other birders. It briefly landed in some bankside vegetation and then dropped down to the river... for a drink!!

And then sidestepped into the water...

For a wash!! (I've not bothered posting most of these as they were just a total blur! There was no light here and despite racking the ISO up to over 1000, I never managed more than 1/100 sec shutter speed!

There were one or two 'keepers' however and despite the gloom, these were by far the best views of the day!

#Didthatjusthappen

Just after taking these images, we were approached by a youngster with his parents on the bank? "What are you doing" he said... "Bird watching' I replied... "Why do you do that" he countered!

I have often wondered that myself... lol, but this next image sums it up - whether through Bins, scope or viewfinder, this IS why we do it

Black-throated Thrush well and truly on the UK list, quite a day to remember too with the final 45 minutes of daylight spent watching the Thrush in the stubble field south of the New Inn, viewed from the roadside next to it. Quite a view birders were savouring their only views of the day at that moment! It's not an easy bird and we were very very lucky but it is always 'somewhere' in the general area! We spent all day and followed a plan based on the Alex's 'experiences' - sometimes you make your own luck :-)