500 NOT OUT...

It is with great joy I can report that at bloody long last I have reached the dizzy heights of THE 500 CLUB.


PHILADELPHIA VIREO has the honour of bringing up the big 500 and what a stonkin jobby it was (fieldguides don't do it justice). A third for the British Isles noless at the aptly named Bog Road, Kilbaha, Co.Clare, Ireland. It actually MEGA'ed on Monday just too late to get on a plane. So Statto and I arrived the next day care of good old Ryanair. Joining the mass throng of birders (all 20ish) we litterally waded across the bog (actually a farmers field where he must keep water buffalo) to view the hedge the Yanky vagrant was hiding in. Statto after 10mins got itchy feet so walked off and was in the next field as typically the Philly put on a brief show before he could wade back....WHAP!...OML...500UP! job done.

The boy did show later on in the next hedgerow (in the field Statto had been in) and showed astoundingly well to all present for a good 15mins. We left the scene triumphant, muddy and probably with trench foot for a swift celebratory Guinness in the nearby Lighthouse Inn.
























Statto exits all smiles (cos he's Guinnessed up!)
A quality pint at a quality Inn at a quality place (Phil the Vireo, Canada Warbler and RE Vireo etc..) what more could a birder ask for. As we left Kilbaha we passed the Philly fields not a sole to be seen (or the bird ever again)...quality!



T'other local beverage Inn was unfortunately closed so we missed out on a Guinness served by a United supporting landlord but the sign on his pub says it all...QUALITY! and thats what me blogs all about BIRDS, BEER and FOOTBALL...CHEERS!








British List 500