Banana Skin

Yellow and very slippery.

You know where I was today then... ;)

[[This is an edited version, probably the worse for it..]]

It was inevitable, as soon as I was busy on both Friday and Saturday, that something big would show up to annoy me. Another yankee passerine in reach... This is getting amusing. Then it compounded things by not only failing to do the Friday Night Bunk, but also not trying a Saturday Night Skedaddle, either. Nothing for it but to head up there, then.

In these trying times, it is both fiscally and environmentally responsible to share transport wherever possible. In this spirit I rendezvoused with Bun and Karen of Backwater fame at Exeter and the three of us burned up made our way steadily up to wales, with the only pain being at the hands of french extortionists. The locals at Rhiwderin had made careful and well-executed plans, and everything went pretty smoothly.

Of course, the bird wasn't exactly a porn star and made the assembled throng [100+ with a fair turnover rate] wait and indeed work for brief glimpses, but this is a yank warbler after all. When the sun came out it showed fairly frequently - busily feeding in the tussocky grass and brambles with many a flick of wings and tail - the amazingly bright yellow bits stood out even to naked eye at the 30m range the bird seemed to like us at. Very Dunnock-like behaviour, really, but with more relocations to different hedges. These relocations were very sneaky, the bird just vanishing for a while before being spotted elsewhere. It often flies skimming the ground - Karen and I saw it exit the back of a hedge we'd gone around [as we thought the masses were a bit close for it to show] and it was so low we lost it in a fold in an open field. Maybe 10 minutes later I saw it came from behind us to our right back into the same hedge it had left [the one with the gully in]. The main group picked it up, surged upslope and then Karen saw it zip back out and over the lane towards the old car parking field - where it was refound about an hour later! Sneaky, very sneaky.

So, all three of us saw the bird, both in flight and flicking about the grass and brambles, and it was indeed a true stunner. Gorgeous. Wow. And so on. For those of you who haven't gone; think about it. Its mobile and elusive, oh yes, but with a little thought and a slice of luck, great views are possible once the hordes have dispersed. From what I gather [this being the Monday edit] it has shown much better with fewer people around. I'm not saying it was a badly-behaved twitch, people walked and kept pretty quiet, but it was very clear that when the crowd line was at about 30m from the appropriate hedge the bird would come right out, and when at 10m or less it wouldn't and usually moved off. Not saying it wouldn't come close to people, just that it didn't like people coming close to it.

Getting back to Exeter mid-afternoon, I decided to drop in at Bowling Green on the way home, where there were a whole bunch of ducks and quite a few waders [despite it not being high tide] with lots of people looking at them. Snipe in the open and smart Pintail were the star birds. It was just a quick drop-in while passing, but the light was good and there was plenty to look at.

Funny how it goes, isn't it? After years of not seeing a single yank, here's another one bitten the dust. Now then, where's that Redstart at the Nose??