Thursday October 29 - Lion Wood

 At the risk of sounding like the pessimist I am, I poked my head outside last night and saw clear skies and  the moon. This was not good. It meant that the Red-flanked Bluetail may have also looked up and thought "time to be off".

The fact is that most passerines migrate at night, and they prefer to see stars. It is assumed that the night sky plays some part in navigation, although there are plenty of other cues thought to be used. Whatever it was using, the Bluetail had got it all wrong and had turned up thousands of miles from its intended destination in the Indian subcontinent or even further east.

However, hope springs eternal, and I joined thirty or so of the usual suspects in the wood this morning just after first light for another go.

Someone had brought a secret weapon, and after an hour of standing around near the spot where it was twice seen yesterday, it was deployed. The playing of tapes to attract birds can be frowned upon, and it is not fair on the birds during the breeding season. The chap with the tape was very good, and asked everyone if they had any objection. Of course we didn't.

So the call was played for about 30 seconds. I thought "so that's what they sound like". Further down the track a couple of birders, the Peplows I think, got a bit excited having been unaware of the plan. I was impressed that they knew the call.

The upshot was that nothing happened. Optimism plummeted. The bird must have gone. The next hour was spent chatting, scanning, and eventually wandering about. 

When we started photographing each other (in case we never see each other again, someone said) I knew that pessimism had won the day.

From the left: Graham Mant, John Sirrett, and Mike Inskip

Actually meeting up with old friends is a large part of the attraction of twitching. 

But then a text message arrived at 11.00. It had been found. Three hours later, after chasing false alarm Robins, Nuthatches, and probably leaves, I followed directions (behind the birch) and saw the bird for about two seconds.

A slender pale chat with orange flanks ... er that's it. Good enough for a tick, but I'd like longer views.

So I was tempted to go back again. Finally, at 16.40 it landed in front of the remaining crowd and I could see its blue tail. I took a photo, but in a gloomy wood under grey skies late in the afternoon I had left the setting on "birdwatching". This was a mistake. The resulting shot is so terrible I cannot bring myself to exhibit it here. I realised my mistake, switched to "auto" and took another shot about a second after the bird flew out of frame.

I'm all Blue-tailed out. It'll be back to moths and Morton Bagot for the foreseeable future.