Saturday 31 October 2009

ST LEVEN CHURCH & THE RADDE'S WARBLER

Had a little lie in this morning, got up at around 06.45 looked out of the window to see a dull overcast morning, but at least it was dry. So decisions decisions today as there were two birds I wanted to go for, one was the Green or Greenish Warbler out on the Lizard Peninsula or the Radde's Warbler which was at St Leven Church near Lands End. So after a bit of deliberation and throwing grass into the air to check the wind direction St Leven won. So drove down and on arriving in the car park the first people I saw were JR & SUE and their other birding companion Chris. First thing was to take a photo of the beautiful old church to give you some idea of the area,then walked with the others up to where the bird was seen. As soon as we arrived we got onto it for about five seconds then it disappeared over a hedge, about 1 1/2 hours later it was rediscovered in some trees down the lane it showed well on occasions tho very mobile so only managed to get a couple of shots, one of which I have added below but this did not detract from seeing a really nice visitor. So that was about all for the morning so drove back home where my family were waiting to welcome a gentleman of lesuire as I retired from work yesterday, and it was my birthday today. Wow no more being penned up in work when rareites occur and can please myself when I want to do my own thing, as long as the wife agrees.
PS Welcome to Donaldthebirder as a follower, Thanks and hope you enjoy the blog.








8 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Monty,nice to bump into you again.
    Your Raddes seems to be a fitting present,great shot well done.
    John and Sue.

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  2. Well done Monts lovely shots in a difficult light today. How old are today, 21!!

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  3. Many Happy Returns Monty & best wishes for a long and wildlife full retirement. I'll be joining you shortly (albeit enforced!) & will endeavour to stay well out of the other halfs way as much as possible.

    You definitely seem to have plenty of interesting migrants to chase in the far west and capturing excellent images. I'll be popping back regularly to see how retirement suits you. Cheers Frank.

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  4. Hi Monty.
    Well done with the Radde's . Hope you enjoy your retirement.

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  5. At the risk of making a fool of myself I will be completely honest and say I have never heard of a Radde's Warbler but congratulations! I am very envious and well done on getting a photo.

    Many happy belated birthday wishes too and I wish you a very long and happy retirement!

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  6. Thank you all for the good wishes and hope to get out and about as soon as the weather improves although I have a few chores to do first.
    Jan have a look at some of the Collins bird guides of Britain and Europe in paperback, as they are not expensive and are great identification for Europe ,North Africa and the Middle East. Each year quite a few species turn up here In the UK.

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  7. Oh, the churches of England. I was there in the 1960's and loved to visit the old musty smelling churches and their beautiful paintings. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

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  8. Well done Monty - Belated birthday wishes and enjoy your retirement.

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