Greed is good.............

...................is the adage from 80's smash hit 'Wall Street'. But in the world of self-found birding, it really could be.

I can see an element of gamesmanship creeping into play as the migrants start turning up. Broom will become one of the 'theatres' in the battle for scarce birds. 

But as the tactical warfare continues it is important to stay one step ahead of the competition. Basically your objective isn't to just self-find for your own list. It is to self-find to prevent others from listing.

In other words, If you can find every Whimbrel at Broom, the chances are other SFYListers will struggle.

Today at Broom I managed 3 more for the list, 5 Sand Martin after many attempts and 2 Little Ringed Plover found in Gypsy Lane East. Just as I was about to leave, a Swallow flew north.

So, is greed still good?..................Of course it is!!

Gordon Gekko

 

"There's no God damn way I'd stop at one Whimbrel"

A bit static

I’m full of the joys of spring, aren’t you?  Lots of early morning, and lunchtime, and evening visits to Broom GP this week have revealed very little new.  I’ve had a couple of Sand Martins through, two White Wags, and other than that it’s been pretty static.  Matt’s four Little Gulls were nice, but even they weren’t in stunning summer plumage, unlike our current weather!  Maybe the next few days things will improve?

Today’s lunchtime outing with Mr Bashford produced two LRP’s at Derek’s (one up on previous days) so I think we can both legitimately claim them as a ‘find’.

Snatched from under our noses...

Teresa Brown found two Black Redstarts while leading a guided walk at the Lodge today. Here are a few staff encouraged our of their offices to have a look Gutting for me having never self found one in the county but worse for Steve who could see these from his office if only he wasn't working so hard...

A boost from Broom

Self found ticks should prove easy enough over the next few weeks as the new migrants come in. I got my first with a Wheatear at Broom while searching for a certain teal sp. The key to the contest is however to get the scarcities. One example is Peregrine that is around most of the time but difficult to count as a self found for the year. Sightings are irregular away from the known locations such as Stewartby chimneys so I was delighted to score with a bird that came down to drink on the pools at Gypsy Lane East on Saturday morning. I also got a bonus this weekend as this was my first visit to gravel pit habitat since the first few days of the year so I was able to add SFYTs in the shape of Redshank, Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover to give my total an extra boost.

Later in the day, a Green Sandpiper was discovered on the man-made plastic-lined pools between Toddington Services and the railway giving me a total of seven different wader species for the day. Still not found Stonechat however which was one of the key targets of my late afternoon wanderings in the Sundon area.

Have not had a chance to add anything else yet this week but the weekend will soon be upon us again thankfully, then the longer lighter evenings.

Not counting this duck from Wardown Park, Luton. Not only is it an escape but it is some sort of hybrid in which I am finding it difficult to be confident in naming species that may be included in its ancestry. If I knew the answer this would make a good competition photo but I reckon a certain amount of Ruddy Shelduck may be in there somewhere…

Andy Grimsey

Merlin

A brown female Merlin at Broom GP this morning skips on to my Beds SFYL as all the previous five months worth of Merlins at Broom have always been the regular male.  A drake Mandarin over the main lake was also a bonus.

Quality self finds - in the garden...

Buzzards may be commonplace nowadays throughout Bedfordshire but it's still unusual to see one flying over my part of Kempston - I took some photos of this one taking advantage of the clear blue skies above my garden this morning - definitely self-found! Martin Palmer.

Can't tick the plastics

A Radwell scenic.