Terry Smith's Bird Update

The End of 1980 and all that.......

I will now round off my birding tales from 1980. Returning from Scillies to Wiltshire it was time to get back to normal - crippling views of House Sparrows and Starlings in my back garden and one of my all-time favourites - the Dipper! Although Wilts was not renowned for its stunning birdlife, we were very fortunate in having Dippers on our local rivers - not what you'd expect in this particular neck of the woods! I can remember finding my first one when I was about 8 years old. I was totally gobsmacked by my find. I read in my birdbooks that they were 'only found in Wales, Scotland and the mountains and moorlands of western England'. So what the heck were they doing on my local river, which was only fast-flowing in parts and were at the dizzy heights of about 200 feet above sea-level? Still, they're still there now, but seem to be far more elusive these days.
Now back to 1980, we had time to fit in the odd Dudes' RSPB coach trip now and then. What? Going on an organised RSPB coach trip to see pretty 'dicky birds' I hear you say? Well, we did and we found it a pretty good way of seeing some damned good birds for a paltry sum of money. This particular trip had 10 of us hardened twitchers occupying the back seats and a trip to South Wales produced a good day out, ending up with a diversion on the way back to see a Spotted Sandpiper at Peterstone near Newport! Two days later and I was on my way to Prawle Point (in my now home county of Devon) to try for what would have been yet another lifer if I had connected with it. Pallas's Warbler was still a considerable rarity in those days and I dipped out on the blooming thing! However, all was not lost and we located a Yellow-browed Warbler in the area, the resident Cirl Buntings and being jammy as usual, a life-tick in the form of a Ferruginous Duck seen later in the day at Slapton Ley!
November 9 and we were on our way to Radipole Lake in Weymouth, Dorset for another and final life tick of the year. We drove right up to the bird. We need not have even bothered getting out of the car. The first-winter Ring-billed Gull (again a great rarity in those days!) was stood in the carpark. However being fit and keen we did exit the vehicle, and even set up our scopes. We were so damned close that we couldn't focus our scopes, but we would not have looked the part if we had only looked dudishly (crikey, does that word exist?) through our bins at it. I must admit that it was a pretty grotty bird and won no prizes for elegance! However it WAS a lifer and as I said, a rare bird then. No more lifers came my way in 1980, but if you think I saw some cracking birds in 1979 and 1980, wait 'til you find out what I connected with in 1981! I will move on to that year next time and if you don't like to hear about blockers, then you'd better look away!!
Bringing us up to date, I had a wizard call on my mobile from Martin Wolinski. He'd just found a Yellow-browed Warbler at Bowling Green Marsh (a new species for the reserve!) and generously put the news out straight away. My sincere thanks, Martin, it's about time I bought you a drink! I had a couple of chores to do that couldn't wait, but I tore over in the spare twenty minutes I had and was watching the bird within ten seconds of leaving the car. The bird was performing well in trees and bushes in the hide compound, being visible from the lane or from the hide itself. My second one this year, after having seen the one at Branscombe back in January. We had only been remarking a few days earlier, that this excellent little reserve was overdue a Yellow-browed or a Pallas's! Some incredible waders have turned up here over the years, and a reasonable selection of wildfowl as well, but rare passerines are not that well represented on the Bowling Green List, but hopefully we can change all that! Pacific Golden Plover, Terek, Baird's, White-rumped and Pectoral Sandpipers, Cattle and Great White Egrets, Glossy Ibis, Lesser Scaup, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck and Wryneck (to name a few of the better ones) have all occurred here in past twelve years or so, which must mean great potential for finding your own rarity here in the not too distant future. Time to stop rambling on and get this old codger up the wooden way to Bedfordshire. Bye.