Today saw me travelling the 100 or so miles down to Hampshire to TWITCH the Spanish Sparrow in Calshot,near Southampton.I arrived just after 8am with Martin "Blow Monkey" Blow,not nicknamed because he gives head to Michael Jacksons ex pet chimp,just thought i would clear that up for anyone who was wondering.
Walking up to the TWITCH,yes you read it right,a TWITCH,not something i usually get involved with but hey,it was enjoyable,nice bird,50% success rate,anyway,back to the story,on arriving we were reliably informed by yvonne that the bird had been very showy but had buggered off for a gob full of seeds (my words not hers),we were also reliably informed that once the said bird (a male Spanish Sparrow) had finished off his breakfast he would be back with the other House Sparrow for a chat in an hour or so and we was not dissapointed,it arrived back around 9.10am and treated us to some very good views in what must of been better light than those who had seen it about 7.55am.
Next on my TWITCH list was the Dark Eyed Junco to the west of Beaulieu,hants,once again,on arriving we bumped into yvonne who once again reliably informed us that the bird had been showing just a few minutes before at the edge of the clearing.Off we trotted,me,martin and our new friend Rob who lived in California for the last 20 years,came from Kent but was here for a holiday,nice bloke anyhow.Anyway,back to this Junco,about 15 of us spent the best part of an hour looking for a bird that had obviously been there just a minute or so before we arrived,in the meantime we had about 10 crossbills,a single Brambling,both year ticks for me,siskins,Reed Buntings,tits and finches,lovely stuff!!!
The Junco turned up after an hour,once again a lovely bird and well worth the wait,had good views for a few minutes but time was getting on a bit now and we were 65 miles from the next FILTHY TWITCH.
A nice drive to be honest,across Hampshires New Forest into Dorset and down to Weymouth,lovely countryside and quiet roads in comparison to The Big Smoke.We parked up outside a holiday village in the sleepy little town of Wyke Regis on the outskirts of Weymouth,Weymouth holds special memories for me as a couple of years ago that little old pub team from Essex AKA AFC Hornchurch went down there and got a last minute winner courtesy of Simon "Jesus" Parker,such infruriating the Home Club that they refused to serve us in their bar after the game,something to do with someone setting a smoke bomb off at the end of the game,bitter Twats.Anyway,sorry for going off story,just reminiscing,we parked up and walked through the Holiday Camp,as we was walking,Justin (A fellow Boozy Birder) drove past,stopped and reversed,i asked im if he had seen the Humes Warbler but he hadn't,i was fully expecting to get up there,wait an hour as that seems the norm and then find the bird,as it was,we waited an hour,the bird didn't turn up,so we went to look for the Richards Pipit,which was supposed to be not far from the Humes but after a little hunt around for it we decided to call it a day as time was getting on,we then headed back across the South on the long drive back to Sunny Old Essex,a few Buzzards and the usual bits and pieces on the way back ended a cracking day out,one question needs to be answered,does today make me a filthy TWITCHER or not,thoroughly enjoyed it and while i still consider myself a Birder i am definatly more of a twitcher than i was 24 hours ago.........
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