Rubythroats n local stuff....

Lusting UK based twitchers are, as I write, drooling over the porno bird of the moment that is, of course, the Shetland Siberian Rubythroat…

More enticing than a scantily clad Thai hooker cavorting in a neon lit window with a tube of vaseline…this sexy bird, in flashing its chest over the internet, has seduced many birders to make the long journey up north…and good luck to them!

You have to admire the folk who are taking the gamble tho…especially those souls with less money and taking the ferry to keep costs down…and I hope it pays off for them..!

I for one, however, will not be going…and for the obvious reasons….time and especially…COST…!!

Don’t get me wrong…I’d love to see a Rubythroat in the UK…and one day there will, in all probability, be a mainland bird which will cost relatively fuck all to see…[if we are lucky]…! I remember only too well dipping on ‘that’ Dorset bird many years ago…and I was interested..[nay..”amused”]…to read on BF about its suspected origins…but I know fuck all ‘inside information’ about that…all I know is that we didn’t see the little bastard…!

Being honest…[and I try to be]….even tho I’ve seen Sibthroat outside the UK…looking at the Shetland bird pix still gives me a shiver or two….such stunning things as they are….

But seriously….if you’ve seen this species outside the UK…then is it really worth it…really..? Up to the individual I guess…you may have a personal target ‘number-wise’ but chances are that most birders will never threaten the so called ‘big boys’…so what are you aiming for once you’ve seen over 500 species…?

I suppose that if you really wanted to ‘take over’ at the top of the listings…you could always
engage in the behaviour displayed by Dennis Price in the classic…..Kind Hearts and Coronets….[chuckle]…!




ps...good luck to all those driving all night to get to the Tanager...!



pps...pix of 'actual birds' in this post include yesterdays Azorean 'type' Gull...[i know Mr.Llamaman will be very interested in that...chuckle]!...and the White rumped Sand...also at Rutty water...[in one pic alongside Alpina race? Dunlin]....