The spring came and went. We saw some bits but when you try and rattle them off you realise that the quiet spell from Autumn 2017 had continued. Since the last post, we'd seen a few bits at Wesser, another blinged White Stork at Whitemoor plus the midweek Crane there, Little Tern at Rocester, Red-necked Grebe at BGP and the Belvide Red-rumped Swallow but that was all. It hadn't been too bad a spring in Staffordshire, but nationally there was little to excite us.
And so late spring came, and we had our shoes on constant standby just in case. When a MOLTONI turned up at Duncansby Head, the top NE corner of Britain, we finally started to make plans for a long distant twitch. We even got to the stage of allocating seat numbers in the minibus but it decided to flit before the weekend came.
And so to Saturday 2nd June 2018. A day of anniversaries.
It was fifteen years ago to the day since this photo was taken......
And four years ago since this photo was taken...
And two years ago since....ah well, we move on
The day started off at Westport as per usual, but this time we had our coats and a sandwich in the hope that something would turn up somewhere for us to see. After Wesser we toured some of North Staffordshire's birding hotspots but we found them to be shite and birdless. No wonder the regulars who visit these places are so angry and bitter. The drizzle came down, we didn't know where to go, arguments started, tears flowed...and you thought being a member of the Clayheads was glamorous.
We returned home to do our regular Saturday jobs.
Then at midday day, I rang Lord Lich who was sipping champagne in his jacuzzi. The conversation went..
"Well?"
"Not enough time"
"Tomorrow?"
"Monitor"
Amazingly, another MOLTONI'S had been found on Blakeney Point. It was still present during the evening and we decided to head off at 0400hrs the following evening. The twitch was on.
Lord Lich volunteered to drive, and we picked up The Stalker en route. The soft top Range Rover simply ate the miles up, and the on board hostess made sure we were well looked after. We parked up at Cley Coastguards at 0730hrs, already aware that the MOLTONI'S was still present. We headed off while the rest of the Staffs birders were still asleep.
Following a long winter visiting the gym daily and practising on the special shingle covered tread mill, we found the walk to the point very easy this year, and within 20 minutes we were stood with the 20+ birders on site who also hasn't had a lie in and made the correct call.
It was a long hours wait before we had any action. A Blakeney stalwart soon spotted us and came and stood by us, and asked us how Westport was doing this spring. It was good to compare the two sites and it was amazing to hear how similar the sites had fared. He said there had been very few waders on Blakeney this spring, exactly the same as Westport would you believe.
Then a little further down the line, a shout went up. We moved down and we were soon watching the drake Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler perched up in a bramble. We found out the bloke shouting out the directions was called Nobby and he even made sure we had all seen it. What a true gent and we decided that Nobby is going to be made a honorary member of the Clayheads.
We watched it feed and flit around on and off for about an hour, and Lord Lich managed to get some video. Then at 10:15hrs, it became restless and flew over to the Alder Fly plantation before flying off into the distance down the point and lost to view. It was a most unexpected end to the visit
We headed off back to the car, and as we were walking downhill, we were back within 15 minutes of setting off. The Staffordshire Birding Club minibus had finally arrived, and we said hello to the Steve twins...Steve Belvide and Steve Gailey, I shook hands with Mr Chairman...Sir Roger Tixall-Broadbent, a nice brief chat with Clayhead Richard Sutton whom I hadn't seen in ages and finally Young Billy Bateman was folding away his duvet and getting the grass out of his hair as we passed. So good to see warm friendly faces and we wished them well.
All videos in the blog are taken by the Lord Lichfield Video Company and are produced here without his permission.
And so after a very short break for a short healthy snack and re hydration, we headed down to Salthouse where we met up with our old friends Richard M and Steve G and stood with them listening to a Common Rosefinch singing. Eventually it was located in the hedge at the rear and we had brief but fantastic views in its brown-morph plumage.
One more stop and that was to Kelling where we had views of the white-spotted red-spotted Bluethroat while feeding in a ditch. By now the temperature was in the early 30's and we spent time distributing water to the elderly.
And then we went home. My first tick since October 2017 and three Norfolk ticks in the bag too. A fantastic day was had by all.
And so to Saturday 2nd June 2018. A day of anniversaries.
It was fifteen years ago to the day since this photo was taken......
And four years ago since this photo was taken...
And two years ago since....ah well, we move on
The day started off at Westport as per usual, but this time we had our coats and a sandwich in the hope that something would turn up somewhere for us to see. After Wesser we toured some of North Staffordshire's birding hotspots but we found them to be shite and birdless. No wonder the regulars who visit these places are so angry and bitter. The drizzle came down, we didn't know where to go, arguments started, tears flowed...and you thought being a member of the Clayheads was glamorous.
We returned home to do our regular Saturday jobs.
Then at midday day, I rang Lord Lich who was sipping champagne in his jacuzzi. The conversation went..
"Well?"
"Not enough time"
"Tomorrow?"
"Monitor"
Amazingly, another MOLTONI'S had been found on Blakeney Point. It was still present during the evening and we decided to head off at 0400hrs the following evening. The twitch was on.
Lord Lich volunteered to drive, and we picked up The Stalker en route. The soft top Range Rover simply ate the miles up, and the on board hostess made sure we were well looked after. We parked up at Cley Coastguards at 0730hrs, already aware that the MOLTONI'S was still present. We headed off while the rest of the Staffs birders were still asleep.
 |
| Lord Lich and The Stalker yomping out to the Point |
 |
| It was a little bit misty |
It was a long hours wait before we had any action. A Blakeney stalwart soon spotted us and came and stood by us, and asked us how Westport was doing this spring. It was good to compare the two sites and it was amazing to hear how similar the sites had fared. He said there had been very few waders on Blakeney this spring, exactly the same as Westport would you believe.
Then a little further down the line, a shout went up. We moved down and we were soon watching the drake Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler perched up in a bramble. We found out the bloke shouting out the directions was called Nobby and he even made sure we had all seen it. What a true gent and we decided that Nobby is going to be made a honorary member of the Clayheads.
We watched it feed and flit around on and off for about an hour, and Lord Lich managed to get some video. Then at 10:15hrs, it became restless and flew over to the Alder Fly plantation before flying off into the distance down the point and lost to view. It was a most unexpected end to the visit
 |
| It wasn't the largest crowd at first |
We headed off back to the car, and as we were walking downhill, we were back within 15 minutes of setting off. The Staffordshire Birding Club minibus had finally arrived, and we said hello to the Steve twins...Steve Belvide and Steve Gailey, I shook hands with Mr Chairman...Sir Roger Tixall-Broadbent, a nice brief chat with Clayhead Richard Sutton whom I hadn't seen in ages and finally Young Billy Bateman was folding away his duvet and getting the grass out of his hair as we passed. So good to see warm friendly faces and we wished them well.
 |
| The Stalker was very pleased with his visit and struggled to contain his excitement. |
All videos in the blog are taken by the Lord Lichfield Video Company and are produced here without his permission.
And so after a very short break for a short healthy snack and re hydration, we headed down to Salthouse where we met up with our old friends Richard M and Steve G and stood with them listening to a Common Rosefinch singing. Eventually it was located in the hedge at the rear and we had brief but fantastic views in its brown-morph plumage.
One more stop and that was to Kelling where we had views of the white-spotted red-spotted Bluethroat while feeding in a ditch. By now the temperature was in the early 30's and we spent time distributing water to the elderly.
 |
| Kelling Water Meadows - well the beach by it |
And then we went home. My first tick since October 2017 and three Norfolk ticks in the bag too. A fantastic day was had by all.
