Tree Pipit deja vu

On 21 August 2012, I found a migrant Tree Pipit in Myers Road Quarry, Potton. I'll be damned if I wasn't there this morning, and at almost exactly the same spot - in the birches in the corner of the same quarry face - if I didn't chance across two. They were settled, silent and happily preening, no more than 6' from each other, suggesting to me that this could be a pair. Given the precarious state of the species, this could be an exciting development; conversely, they could have buggered off by tomorrow morning.

I was more 'expecting' a Redstart this morning, but TP was not wholly unexpected bearing in mind the habitats I frequent. Indeed, above my desk I have a sheet of paper with about 40 migrants listed that I expect/ hope to find - Tree Pipit is/ was one of those.

I want that Passerine Cup, although I appreciate that it would be an achievement akin to winning the Europa League, whilst the big boys are competing for the serious business of the Champions League. ;-)

I also passed two milestones today: my 30,000th ever BirdTrack record and my 6,000th of the year.

DOM

Catching up

No picture, but I managed a reasonable sound record of my two Tree Pipits from The Pinnacle this morning.  Not a bad reward for my first 45 min vismig session this autumn.  Quite chuffed with them!

The Hills

Two more nice SFYTs and an ace bimble too. Dragged my son up and also Mr Oakley-Martin to give him a break from Potton.

First was a Tree Pipit calling overhead as we reached the summit, followed by another. The first perched as you can see clearly from this photo.

Near the trig point, a male Redstart flew in front of us. Also two Wheatears and a Red Kite.

Tree Pipit

I thought joining this challenge would be fun and motivational, but boy are half-decent, self-found birds hard to come by when you have no transport. This much I have already discovered. Then add to this the lack of any significant waterbodies.

To date, the 'only' birds I have 'found' are a co-found Purple Heron with Steve (and I wouldn't have been there to bask in reflected glory if he hadn't offered to take me out birding for the day), a Lesser Spot, Whimbrel, Cetti's at a new site only a stone's throw from my mother's house (where I happened to be staying) and erm....some Mandarin on the local brook.

So having only been involved for a few days, I decided upon a suitable, un(der)-watched local site for Whinchat and went along to a disused quarry north of Potton. The quarry floor is crammed with ragwort: suitable look-out points, I thought.

I had scanned for about half an hour I guess, when behind me, I heard an explosive, high-frequency and drawn-out call. Instinctively, and despite being alone, I intoned ''Tree Pipit!'' I could now see the bird, bouncing nervously from its perch. It called again, seemingly looking for somewhere to settle, before with one last call, it rose and was gone.

Not what I had expected, but when is birding ever thus?

Darren