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Monday 16 April 2012

A rouzely rouse

Its a funny ol game this self-finding lark.  Ive been struggling to add much to my tally of late, mostly because of the cool north winds keeping stuff from arriving.  So when six Ring Ouzels were seen at Pegsdon I popped along there in the evening to take a look myself.

After wandering around without much to show for my efforts I stood pondering what to do next on the edge of Chack Valley.  After a few minutes I hear the soft distinctive scalding of Ring Ouzel thinking it was in the bushes near me I back away slowly.  After a few minutes more I hear it again and realise its coming from across the valley from some scrub.  I put my bins up to be greeted with a spanking male Rouzel atop a hawthorn.  After only a few seconds a shower of black and white shoot through my bins as a Buzzard piles in to the trees above the bird I was watching scattering more Rouzelage that were hidden deep in the bushes above there seemed to me more than six!

After the Buzzard moves on, I decide to walk round to a better vantage point on the opposite side of the valley.  After a long wait the Rouzels eventually pop out and fly across to the sunny side of the valley to feed.  I count them 1,2,3,4,5,6 excellent, Ive got them all.  Hold on a minute, there is another one, and another, and another!  Nine Ring Ouzels all bouncing round the sunny slope together fabulous.

So it would appear Ive found three extras.  But have I?  I receive an email from an anonymous source (lets call him Randy Whimsey) calling in to question my finding of these three extras how to you know they weren’t some of the previous six he comments.  My only reply to that is how do you know theyre not new in?

2 comments:

  1. I don't know who this Randy is, (obviously some kind of wind-up merchant !) but I would say tick them away. After all there are plenty of similar ticks awaiting all of us through the year. It's the real scarce, one offs, rares and important records that we all strive to find and anything that encourages us out in the field has got to help. Mine's a Wherry !

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  2. Don't worry, Andy, they're going on the list. Hopefully they won't be the last Rouzels I find this year anyway. Now, where's my rare...

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