ONE STEPPE BEYOND

Acted on yesterdays ***MEGA ALERT*** and zipped over to Flatville (Lincolnshire) early doors. Prompted by a call from Groucho I diverted from the pager directions and Hannu Mikkola style rallied my way down some seriously muddy/pot holed/wet lanes to arrive covered in mud (the car) some 100m from the gathered throng of olive clad twitchers. The STEPPE GREY SHRIKE showed stupidly well more wheatear like than shrike. Battered by the wind and rain my attempts at digiscoping failed miserably (again) hence no piccies. This is now an English upgrade to my first on the Isle of Man (BOU no go zone!! but they count Northern Ireland bizzare) on 21/06/2003. Suppose I'll need to upgrade Calandra Lark one day any excuse to go birding/twitching yeh!


Steppy's 2yds infront of the throng.


I then went birding as one does and Donna Nook that mysterious Lincs suppression no go zone was calling. Joining the rest of the day trippers we thrashed the bushes all the way to Pye's Hall seeing 100's of Continental Blackbirds enroute but sod all else. Yesterdays Pallas's had done one. Nearby the breeding colony of Grey Seals performed for the tourists...








eat my shorts AutumnWatch.
The rest of the day turned into a goose chase and whilst looking for the Tundra Bean and bumping into the Doc at Saltfleet I parked only 200yds from a yet to be found Desert Wheatear. Yet again my ability to walk past stuff is becoming a bad habit. Nowt else doing (famous last words) I set off home, as it grew dark several annoyingly late messages were put out on the pager (no offence RBA) its the t**ts who phone in stuff deliberately late. 'Ringers' had caught a Bluetail at Saltfleet a stones throw from the Goose/Wheatear sites and released it very late on...why?? f'in bother. The Pallas's was reported from Donna RAF again after dark!!!

Other stuff on the east coast provided the B Teamers with a bumper tick fest - Two Barred Crossbill, Pied Wheatear, Canvasback all in Yorkshire with Hume's Warblers in N'umberland/Norfolk surely theres another goody on the way...Yellow browed Bunting please.

ENGLISH LIFE - 464