Wednesday 17 June 2009

ROYAL BLOCKER...

I'd just got home after another day of car shifting and was looking forward to a hot bath and beer when the pager went ***MEGA***..........AFRICAN ROYAL TERN on the beach at Abersoch, North Wales...FERGEL SHARKEY!!!! or words to that effect. Predictably a nano second later Jonos on the phone ''get to junction 10 NOW!!! Freds picking us up''. Two minutes later I'm back on the road armed with bins and scope heading at warp speed to our rendezvous point on the M56....The 'A' Teams in action...90 minutes later we're arriving at Portmadoch to work the beaches westwards towards Abersoch (the Carrot bill having flown eastwards earlier on). Our plan was nearly perfect except we drove past Black Rock Sands where Wizzal wonder boy Mr Wooley was just setting eyes on the ROYAL TERN god bless him. A call from Big Al seconds before the pager had Fred doing a Hannu Mikkola style 180' turn as we sped back towards Black Rock.
Above a truly awful record shot of the Welsh Carrot Bill as it roosted nearly one kilometre away on the sands at Black Rock but hey its OML. No sign of the 'B'Team I believe they were 'shopping' at the time. Over the next hour or so we watched the ROYAL TERN glow in the ensuing darkness. Less than 40 birders actually connected with the boy most from the North West and one team from Llama land. What a bloody blocker this could turn out to be, as I write this Wednesday 17th its not been seen since oh what a shame. Congrats to Fred who joins the 'A' Stars as its newest member (come on Jono pull your finger out).The gathered Carrot Bill appreciation society delight in texting/phoning their East Coast/Southern (ex)friends to grip them off good style. Sorted as we say in Manchester.
BRITISH LIFE LIST 505 (pending BOU acceptance of course)
WESTERNPAL LIFE LIST 673

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