Hey up folks, after failing to fill the team bus last weekend, the Cheesedale Branch of U3A finally set off for Chipping Norton yesterday mornin'. Malc' and RP were on the bus for 0540 so it was just a case of pickin' Norbert and The Whopper up and we'd be off. After a bit of a struggle to get his huge weapon on board Norbert jumped in and off we sped. If all went to plan The Dove would hang around long enough for us to connect early doors and hopefully head off further south for the 'ampshire eagle.
After a bit of a balls up with the old sat-nav we finally pulled up in a very wet and cold Chippers around half eight. Why I bother with a sat-nav is any body's guess, after spendin' twelve years on the vans and doin' a fair bit of twitchin' over the last twenty or so years it's not like I can't find my way round!!! Anyway no sooner had we pulled up than the Three Musketeers were off along the High Street leaving moi to get sorted and lock up the bus. Guess what? In my haste to catch up with the lads I forgot me bins! Unfortunately I didn't realise until I got that "naked" feelin' you get when you go for your bins and they're not there and by this time I was a quarter of the way to The Leys and the dove, aaaaaaaaarrgh!
Eventually I got to number 41 to find the lads were already in the kitchen with around twenty other birders grillin' the dove, not literally of course. The dove was perched in a large bush at the back of the garden just lookin' at us, god knows what it was thinkin'? "Look at those nobheads lookin at moi" probably, but after a few minutes with the bird not movin' we decided to let some other newcomers have a buchas and go back in a bit, hopefully with time to to get to grips with the birds salient features. While we were away havin' a brew Mrs Akers decided to start cookin' brekkie on the Arga and the under floor heatin' kicked in. As you can imagine by the time we got back it was seriously warm in there!!!!!
After refuelin' back at the bus we headed back for the dove but by now it was chuckin' it down and we were soaked by the time we got there. Most birders know that a quick change in temp' can have a drastic effect on your optics and this proved to be the case, especially with my Leicas, they were completely misted up!!!!! The dove was now waddlin' around in the garden and I couldn't see a bloody thing through me bins and to make matters worse I was in exactly the wrong place in the scrum so the frame of the patio doors was also in me way!!! Talk about panic I was like a blind man with a naked woman lyin' right infront of him, all I kept sayin' was "I can't see it, I can't see it, where is it, where is it???"
Eventually thanks to the lads lettin' me use their bins I managed to get some good but brief views of the bird on the ground and on the fence rail before it flew off into next doors garden. Phew!!!! Rufous Turtle Dove(orientalis) UTB! While I was panicin' positive news of the eagle in 'ampshire and the Yank Wigeon at Rushy Common came on the pager and meant we were back on the road pretty sharpish once we'd all had good enough views.
Less than an hour later we were at Rushy Common where we hoped to add another lifer to Malc's rapidly expandin' list, American Wigeon. Unbelievably I forgot me bins again and had to nip back to the bus for 'em while the lads headed off up the path. No sign of the Wigeon but to be honest I think we were lookin' on the wrong pit because when the flock of Eurasian Wigeon took off and dropped right in front of us there was no sign of our yankee target. RP picked up a redhead Smew but I didn't even see that!
Another hour later and we were steamin' through Newbury headin' for Old Basing east of Basingstoke. I don't know if you've ever been to Newbury but they've got some rather strange statues placed in the middle of the roundabouts as you go through town. This one below called "Eb and Flo" made me look twice because some local wag has strategically added a little bit extra !!!!!!! If you look at the picture below of the original statue you'll notice that "Flo" in the middle has had a "Brazilian". What caught my eye faster than a Red-foot at Utch was that "Flo" has definitely had a nice little trimmed up "Jack and Danny" added recently!!!!!!
After the shock of seein' Flo's "Jack and Danny" we eventually arrived at Blacklands Farm just outside Old Basing where the juv' White-tailed Eagle had been seen a couple of hours before. No sooner had we pulled up than the local version of Hyacinth Bucket pulled up behind us. She'd seen us pull up in the village to ask for directions and spotted Malc' lookin' rather dashin' in the front of the car and decided to follow us hopin' to have a word with our dashin' compatriot. While Malc' was sortin' her out we headed up to the mound where local celebrity birder "Blacklands George" was holdin' court and slatin' one of his birdin' rivals. The local corvids must have got tired of listenin' to "George" because they'd started throwin' themselves onto the barb wire fence in front of us!!
After an hour there was still no sign of the eagle but several Red Kites showed well as they moved around the area. A stunning male Sprawk showed brilliantly when it perched on the fence right in front of us after an abortive dash at the local finch flock, what a corker! An heavy downpour saw everyone dashin' for the shelter of their cars including "Blacklands George" who instantly kicked in his stereo and started beltin' out "Careless Whisper" by that famous frequenter of men's bogs George Michael. As soon as the rain had passed over we were back in position and ready for the eagle. Old " Blacklands" was still in the motor and rubber neckin' to Whams Greatest Hits! Then just as "Club Tropicana" was in full swing the juv' White-tailed Eagle appeared above the treeline about a mile away but still looked absolutely massive compared to the crows and Buzzards that were mobbin' it!!!!!! A quick shout from his mate and "Blacklands" was back on the mound givin' a runnin' commentary. I've got to be honest he's probably seen hundreds of White-tails but his enthusiasm was almost childlike and really nice to see rather than the tick and run efforts of many birders nowadays. Eventually the eagle gave crackin' views as it moved towards us before flyin' over the road and out of sight, absolute crippler!!!!! A superb bird and only the second one I've clapped me mince pies on. The first was back in 1999 at Cockley Cley after twitchin' the Ivory Gull at Aldeburgh first, that wasn't a bad day either.
With everyone more than happy with the days haul we hit the road back north with Iron Maiden's "Live after Death" and the mighty Quo's "Live at the Glasgow Appollo" albums blastin' out and stoppin' owd RP from gettin' his beauty sleep. A good day with a bunch of mates.
That's all folks.
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