Everyone in the world had seen the Beeley Dusky Thrush during the week. I could perhaps have snooked away during the week but I resisted temptation and held my nerve and waited until Saturday.
CJW agreed to travel again to see it for a second time, and we even had the thrill of a free shuttle bus taking us into the village. We arrived in the dark and managed to get on the third bus of the day, and we were joined by Mr Moorehen. We were a little surprised by the small numbers initially present, and we set our scopes up on the front row overlooking the wall in the orchard - a prime position.
We had decided on a plan. We were going to stay in the orchard all the time, as the Dusky Thrush seemed to keep coming back throughout the day.
It slowly started getting lighter, and there was no sign. Eventually, at 08:30 ish it flew in from the right hand side, perched a few times on the bushes, then started to feed on one very large apple. Unfortunately for us in our prime position, the view was blocked by one of the red canoes. But I'd seen the bird, and it was on my Derbyshire list.
We stood and waited. Several times the now packed yard emptied as brief sightings were had around the village, but we still stayed putt. It was now 10:40hrs, and it had not returned and I was still without any photos. We decided there would be a cut off point of 12:00hrs. The bacon baps were very nice though.
Another shout went up and everyone went rushing into the field again. In a feeble attempt to at least get some photos, I ran in after them. At last my legs were moving again. The freedom of walking in a field was exhilerating. By the time i reached the top of the second field, the Dusky Thrush had flown through the hedge into another field higher up. Everyone was milling around. I decided to phone CJW to keep him in the picture. He told me the Dusky Thrush was back in the orchard showing well.
So to all you up and coming listers / tickers / mega chasers and not bothered about any patchwork stuff at all types, following my two years as a twitcher I've learned a few things from mistakes. First one is if you have a plan, stick to it, no matter how long it takes for the bird to return.
While I was walking / running back to the orchard, CJW took the following video.
I managed to take this video upon my return.
And in case you missed it earlier, the full story of the first Dusky Thrush I saw in Britain is here
