Pied Wheatear and Sincerest Apologises

Let me start with my personal sincerest apologies! When Bob and I started this blog we promised ourselves that we would update it regularly and try our darnedest to keep it as interesting as possible. Sadly, due to commitments beyond our control it has fallen by the wayside. I have started writing many posts and then not been able to return to them and the moment has passed and the entries forgotten!   

In a bid to thwart this trend my plan is to start writing about our surreal year from now and work backwards to a point that I feel we are up to date once again. 

14th of November - Pied Wheatear at Trevose Head 

Pied Wheatear relocated at Trevose Headland

On the 10th of November pictures of a Pied Wheatear were published on a Facebook page. The person posting was well known to me and I strongly suspected that the bird was or had been in a local vicinity! I informed other local birders of my suspicions and the day after a handful of hopefuls went on the hunt around the Trevose Head area located near Padstow, sadly to no avail and it seemed that the opportunity to see such a local rarity was lost. After some more racking of locals brains it transpired that the bird was indeed located at Trevose Golf Course and due to it being on private inaccessible grounds was suppressed! A sad fact, but understandable.

Late yesterday evening I received an anonymous tip off that the bird had relocated to an area that was public and the bird seemed in good health and settled! Unsure what to believe I called Bob and hatched a plan to drag him away from his new found play pet (he has a real living girlfriend now), and to meet me at first light near the location to sort fact from fiction. I was a little early and it was still quite dark at the time but decided to get into position anyway. A short while later I heard some commotion from the road beneath me! It was Bob on his way up getting a barrage of abuse from the ex county recorder who sadly for many reasons unknown to me has become an avid suppressor and regards the National Trust headland his own private birding site! A difficult situation as for many years he was a firm friend and a fantastic teacher that turned both Bob and I into adequate birders. Sadly the suppression and competitive nature was too much and we both independently decided that such selfish acts were no longer for us and distanced ourselves from the foolery! It is nice to be able to see other peoples birds nowadays and occasionally turn something else up to share with others, but that is a story for another time.

Thankfully Bob managed to make a break for it and head on up to the location we had been given. Albeit, was closely followed by the angry suppressor. We quickly hatched a plan! Knowing that I was so far unscathed from the verbal obscenity we agreed that if Bob moved forward and located the bird I could be his buffer and between us we could relocate the bird and whoever was not suffering from the torrents of abuse could then slope off and get news out as far and wide as was possible! 

Bugger me the plan worked! We both got on the bird prior to the Suppressor Chiefs arrival and had good but brief views of the bird. I then tailed back a few meters whilst Bob went ahead and out of site to get the news out. A short while later Bob returned to the relaxing tranquil Cornish headland sounds of personal abuse and swear words and he was just in time as I was getting close to boiling point and today's twitching fraternity would have been greeted with a fantastic rare bird and a corpse!

Our deed was done and we both needed to get going as work was beckoning! It was superb to get so many messages and calls today thanking us for the news and effort and it made me realise what a great local and national birding community we all have the pleasure of being involved with! 

It was nice to see the bird managing to get plenty of quality local produce inside it! 

 I do not miss the old days when I wasn't allowed to tell anybody about anything and I often feel regret about the birds that so many people would have enjoyed if given the chance. At least things are different now! As a side note Trevose Head is now owned by the National Trust and is a amazing birding location with a superb track record that would rival any location in Cornwall. It can produce in all weathers as the sea-watching is phenomenal and so is the chance of just about anything else turning up. Have it on your radars! 

A bird that I will remember for a longtime for various reasons!