Western Orphean Warbler Twitch

With the Western Orphean Warbler still residing in the garden of Orlandon Kilns cottage, at St Brides, deep in the heart of the beautiful west Wales countryside, on Saturday, a plan was hatched for by far my longest twitch of 2013. I was joined in the filthy twitch mobile, by driver Jono, Nick and Howard, making his long awaited come back to mega twitch scene. An early start saw Howard pick me up at 2.30am to rendezvous at Wanstead, and take Jono's bigger car on the long journey west. Around 4 hours 45 mins later (including the obligatory 20 minute stop for MacD's breakfast), the sun was rising and we were almost there.

From left: Jono, Howard and Nick



The car park was helpfully sign posted and easy to find and well stewarded by local volunteer birders, who gave directions to the cottage, and house rules i.e. keep quiet, queue up, leave when asked to leave etc, and advised us that the bird was still present. Yay! Three hundred yards up the road we arrived at the cottage and joined the queue.

This is where we queued, the garden was around the back not viewable from here

 

There were already 40 birders in the garden and the bird had been seen but in poor light so they were being given extra time to see it again before rotation system would kick in. Thirty odd minutes later, the bird had completed another circuit and had performed well so the birders in the garden were asked to leave.

Most did, some didn't. I am not going to write a whole section slagging off photographers, but let's just say, from what I saw there's too many that are just plain ignorant and don't give a shit about anyone/thing but themselves. And, another thing, why don't they realise that all the cammo gear actually has the opposite of what it was designed to do, and it makes them stand out like a sore thumb! Enough of that, back to the bird. We all stood in silence, scanning the bushes and apple trees for a good 15 minutes then Howard, in hushed tones called it. It had come in and was feeding on an apple towards the back of the garden, but difficult to view.

Views were obscured by branches, apples and Dick's head as he kept moving to get a better view! It made its way closer and eventually into the 2nd closest apple tree, probably 25 yards away and never right out in the open, but provided good bins/scope views for 15 to 20 minutes and then it was off again. With 40+ birders outside having not seen the bird yet we were asked to leave. We did. The same dudes that didn't leave the 1st time didn't, nor even have the decency to acknowledge the request, they just stared ahead and stayed put. Well done lads.

The best I could do



After rotating there was now no real queue so we began one and waited to go back in. Birders just turning up were allowed to go straight in, and 30 minutes later after another good show by the bird, we were back in. Same pattern, wait a while, the bird would come in, feed on apples, play hard to get in terms of photos and then head off. It was a twitch I will remember for a long time. A rare and smart bird in beautiful surroundings, set up and stewarded by some really nice people. Well done and thanks to the home owners and all the volunteers who made it a straight forward and stress free twitch.

Jono back at the make shift car park - Orpheon Warbler successfully ticked

Next we headed even further west, where after 2 miles we hit the coast. From the National Trust of Wales car park we had up to 5 Chough, with 3 feeding in the field next to the car park and a couple of noisy Ravens.

Chough

The long journey home included a very unsuccessful stop for Two Barred Crossbill for Nick in the Forest of Dean, where we could not find the birds, or even the site! Happy to take the blame although I have never claimed to be an expert map reader! At 6.45pm I arrived home, around 630 miles later, very tired after a very enjoyable twitch. I must admit I don't think I could do mega distance twitches like that too often, but every now and again, why not. On this occasion it all went well, great company and a successful tick. BOU 399 and counting, what will 400 be? Watch this space.
        

Howard after just finding a Dartford Warbler

I can't count

I have had so few ticks this year, a measly 3; Dusky Thrush, Pacific Swift and now Pied Wheatear, you would think I would have been able to work out my BOU life list. Well apparently not! There was me thinking I need just one more tick to break the 400 barrier, until I logged onto BUBO and bam, staring me in the face was the number 397! Bugger. So the wheatear is number 398 and not 399 that I had somewhow got into my head. Like a lot of people I have a few potential armchair ticks in the bag, like Slaty Backed Gull, Alder Flycatcher, maybe even Northern Harrier and/or American Black Tern, but it means it's pretty unlikely I'll be reaching the 400 mark in 2013. Monkey by name and a monkey at maths!

Pied Wheatear, Notts! (well actually yes it was)

It's been a bad year tick wise, with just 2 ticks to my name in 2013, for various reasons that I wont bore you with now. Anyway, late news on Saturday night of a Pied Wheatear in Nottinghamshire had me making plans to go for my first new bird in 5 months. News that the bird was still present at 8.30am the next morning came through and I was on the road to pick up Shaun before 9am, before meeting Jono just up the M11 before journeying north. Two and a quarter hours later, we were there, along with with quite a big crowd (c100).          

Shaun et al  

The bird showed distantly almost immediately and within 30 minutes or so it made it way much closer eventually providing very nice views.

This was my 399 BOU tick. I wonder what 400 will be!!

On the way home we stopped for a Glossy Ibis to cap off a good day out. Shame it was a a bit too far for good pics.    

Really enjoyed a great twitch with Shaun and Jono. It was like the good old days and I am looking forward to the next one.