Historical Non-starters

[Hotspur]

As a relative newcomer to the birding and twitching games im interested in other peoples recollections of famous collective cock-ups, mis-id's, suppressions and vanishing birds. Vague references to the fazakerley sibe thrush and the spurn tengmalms owl whet my appetite to hear the old stories. With the welsh sibe thrush, the flam great snipe, brown shrikes, amur falcon, empidonax flycatcher, the flicker, the lil blue heron etc big news at the moment my only recollection of similar recently was the kent scops a couple of years ago. Id love to hear a few more (non) stories B (:

[Jos Stratford]

Cow Pat Nighthawk ...your imagination can fill in the details.

[Hotspur]

I want the juicy details - who called it? how long until you relised it was a crap twitch? was there a nighthawk about etc??

[Jos Stratford]

I want the juicy details - who called it? how long until you relised it was a crap twitch? was there a nighthawk about etc??

Highlight of a past Scilly season, think it has happened more than once. My occasion, I remember arriving to a crowd scoping a ploughed field ...thought it was a bit dodgy as I couldn't even spot the cowpat! I am sure it was a case of misidentification - myself, I think it was Mud Splodge Nighthawk.

No real Nighthawk occurred that year, but fortunately did a season or so later, laying that little event to bed.

[dantheman]

Cow Pat Nighthawk ...your imagination can fill in the details.

A real cow, that 'Patricia Nighthawk' - didn't she make all those poor birders on those nighttime hikes across the Scillies wear luminous sneakers instead of carrying torches? A lot of bruised shins and egos . . . :eek!:

(The alternative imaginative version ;) )

[Lichfield Birder]

Wasn't there a Spotless Starling on St Mary's ticked as such for a while?

[dantheman]

All those rarities which were unfortunate to alledgedly pass through the Hastings area at the turn of the century . . .

[Big Phil]

1988 was a vintage year for mass cock-ups what with the Languard 'Paddychiff' and the Titchwell Baikal Teal...

[I Foster]

I remember sometime in the mid 1990's jumping in the car and blasting down the A19 towards Cheshire or somewhere for a Great Blue Heron but turned back after half an hour or so (pity i never turned back in Dec 07')...and a great afternoon spent at Blithfield Res looking for a female Barrow's Goldeneye! Seaforth for a Needletail and all the way to Portland for a White crowned sparrow, although i think we were stiched up with this one...There must be more.

Cheers Ian.

[username]

Bloody hell.......mis id's?...cockups?...suppressions?......shite thuz a lot of ground to cover there!..don't know if i can remember half of it.....usually coz we were [the L3 that is]..err..how can i put it [without the 'sensible police' avin a go at me]...under the influence of a certain substance...?! [that cud mean anything couldn't it]?

I remember just before the first world war...[kiddin'....even i'm not 'that' old]!

Actually knew the guy who was 'behind' the famous 'cut-out' sib thrush....[he was a really tiny little guy...couldn't even see him...two inches tall e was...] seriously though..he was actually a very nice guy...aint gonna mention his name though coz it ain't really sporting. That was a prime [if not ultimate example] of wot someone might do just so's they could be applauded as the finder of a rare....[the 'very' dark side]!
Can't really write much more at moment...off down pub to natter with birdy mates..[maybe have some stories for youz later]....i'm sure others will give you some goss!

[rokermartin]

There was a stuffed Night Heron at Big Waters in Northumberland years ago that loads of birders went to see.And i can remember loads of birders twitching a Scops Owl somewhere over in Merseyside it turn out to be a Little Owl.

[Woodchatshrike]

Wasn't there a Spotless Starling on St Mary's ticked as such for a while?

I saw that!

[Solomaverick]

Tell you how well known the Teng Owl story is. I was 16 and had barely started twitching in South Africa when I heard this story. Long before the world (the rest of us anyway?) used the internet to communicate it had made it all the way there, presumably via telegram - can't recall if we even had mobile phones yet.

[ukbirder]

Actually knew the guy who was 'behind' the famous 'cut-out' sib thrush

Do you mean Siberian Accentor? Seem to remember a story about a photo of a cardboard Siberian Accentor in a garden in the mid 90's (Norfolk maybe?).

[Jynx]

I saw that!

Long way to twitch a Starling Jubs, especially for a non-twitcher like you. Still stuck on 199 for Slimbridge I see, Water Pipit today ought to do it.

Other non-starters included the two Slender-billed Curlews.......;) runs away quickly :-O

[Dog]

I had bin to see the Black & White Warbler at How hill In Norfolk & was in the car park at Cley when news broke of a Hawk Owl near Beccles. A manic drive through Norwich in a convoy of birders, then arrive on site with 2-300 birders & nothing, no bird, no info, nothing, I never did get to the bottom of the stringy record.

Mike.

[Jynx]

I had bin to see the Black & White Warbler at How hill In Norfolk & was in the car park at Cley when news broke of a Hawk Owl near Beccles. A manic drive through Norwich in a convoy of birders, then arrive on site with 2-300 birders & nothing, no bird, no info, nothing, I never did get to the bottom of the stringy record.

Mike.

At least you got the humbug.

[garry1366]

1988 Nighthawk at Woolston Eyes- it was a Cockatiel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

G

[username]

I had bin to see the Black & White Warbler at How hill In Norfolk & was in the car park at Cley when news broke of a Hawk Owl near Beccles. A manic drive through Norwich in a convoy of birders, then arrive on site with 2-300 birders & nothing, no bird, no info, nothing, I never did get to the bottom of the stringy record.

Mike.

Jezz..i remember that friggin waste o time...n like you Dog...still av no idea who was behind that Hawk owl fiasco. All i remember is standin around with a load of others feelin like a c--t! Still the B&w Warbler was cool....i'd go for another one they're so good! You weren't the guy who fell down the side of the narrow muddy paths at Howe Hill wuz you?...not likely i know.......bin some great 'casualties' on some o these twitches!
UKbirder wuz it?...previous post o mine mentioned 'cut out' sib thrush?...yeah...sib thrush...not accentor...long time ago. Loads of us turned up for this sib thrush...which the observer had photographed...n then obviously nobody saw it. Later the photo's were examined...and 'i believe'...the verdict was that 'it was a fake'...ie...the finder had photo'd a cut out image of Sib thrush in a hedge..on some god forsaken hillside! :eek!:

[username]

Warning!!! Perhaps...i say only 'perhaps' a potential cockup in the making goin on! Remember [how cud you forget]...the amur thread? Welll....[not saying there is a stuff up...hopefully observers have got id right]...but wud you expect a red foot to be about...say...recently?! Bit weird...maybe...maybe not?....check out [if you haven't already...the 'Dark Falcon,Devon' thread under Q&A.....see wot you all think..its been a fun game of 'wot the feck is this'!!....

[Lichfield Birder]

Wasnt there a cut out/stuffed Black Lark at Rimac or somewhere in Lincs??

[Lightthiscandle]

You weren't the guy who fell down the side of the narrow muddy paths at Howe Hill wuz you?...!

That was an old mate of mine called Martin Read! Fond memories! I remember one of the UEA boyz attending the twitch in a wheelchair: he got stuck in the mud by a hedge and enjoyed fabulous views of the Humbug while his mates (who'd abandoned him!) didn't!

[ColinD]

Wasnt there a cut out/stuffed Black Lark at Rimac or somewhere in Lincs??

I still can't believe that you all fell for the stuffed Alder Flycatcher I stuck on that bramble in Cornwall.....

[whitburnmark]

I remember belting down from Teesside to Kingsbury Water Park in the mid-80s for a non-existent Broad-billed Sand. Turned out that it was a Midlands birder in N Norfolk who made the news up, just so he could jump in the nearest car load of twitchers at Cley and get a lift back home!

I remember a few owl twitches from the 80s too. Tengmalm's at Glamis Castle in Scotland, and hanging around a dodgy housing estate in Fazackerly for a supposed Scops. A few strange looks from the locals...

[whitburnmark]

Another very naive twitch for myself as a teen birder was a dash from Portland to an obscure village in the middle of Devon for a reported Desert Sparrow. A nice welcome by the house owner, a good view of his back garden and stick a couple of quid in his jam jar - all for a female Sudan Golden Sparrow... But in those days, you believed what Nancy's/Birdline told you, there was no other way of getting info quickly.

[gandytron]

*The Starcross Green Heron ("woodcock") in 1990
*Rumours of a Black-throated Blue Warbler at Strumble Head in 1989 (think that was a spin-off from the wintering Northern Oriole in west Wales)
*The Sheppey "Gyr Falcon" (Winter 1991/92) that was a falconers hybrid (but only revealed itself as such after several weeks, when it was finally seen well)
*The Dungeness Calandra Lark in March 1992

[Dog]

The Daurian Starling fiasco at Minsmere & the Denge Marsh Calandra.

Mike.

[gandytron]

The Daurian Starling fiasco at Minsmere & the Denge Marsh Calandra.

Mike.

what/when was the Daurian Starling fiasco?

oh, another couple to add...

*Middle-spotted Woodpecker at St Margret's Bay, Kent (Aug 95 or thereabouts)
*Black Woodpecker in Suffolk (somewhere on the coast near Benacre I think) in about 1989

Also wasn't there a story about the late, great Peter Grant bringing back some dead yank warbler from a trip to the USA and, for a joke, putting it in a lane somewhere on Scilly??

[durham giant]

hastings; what happend? what species? i really want to find out , and, i suppose this is the thread to do it on!!!!!!!!!

[Jynx]

I still can't believe that you all fell for the stuffed Alder Flycatcher I stuck on that bramble in Cornwall.....


Well you shoulda used some glue that would last through the night :C

[gandytron]

hastings; what happend? what species? i really want to find out , and, i suppose this is the thread to do it on!!!!!!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Rarities

[dantheman]

hastings; what happend? what species? i really want to find out , and, i suppose this is the thread to do it on!!!!!!!!!

Through the power of google; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Rarities (Cop out I know, a start anyway).

(And would that be one of those times where you could have used the new 'sibe-irony' emoticon smiley thingy?? ;) ;) )

Anyway. Lots of stuff (ing) went on there. I seem to remember hearing one story that LGRE's Great-Great-Uncle Leopold tore through the shires in his trap and foursome at such breakneck speed that the horses keeled over from sheer exhaustion. He then commandeered a passing charabanc going to Brighton, and managed to get dodgy-moustached warbler on his hasty list before it was passed on to the Earl of Norfolk . . . I may have that all wrong mind . . .

[Colin]

Seemed to remember a story of a Baillon's Crake on a pool in front of a hide with no other bird in sight on Scilly I believe some years ago. Hundreds of birders were ushered through the hide to see it and eventually a birder said that he couldn't see this crake. Apparently the story goes that the usher explained that it was right there in full view and was the only bird there. This guy still said that he couldn't see the crake, and the only bird that he could see was a Sora Rail!!!! So, lots of birders had gone home ticking the former when the actual bird present was even rarer. I expect that others can elaborate on the story which I have only read about and knowing my failing memory, I may have got the species wrong but it must have been a reasonably major mis-id.

[Phil Carter]

Also wasn't there a story about the late, great Peter Grant bringing back some dead yank warbler from a trip to the USA and, for a joke, putting it in a lane somewhere on Scilly??

I seem to remember it was a Black-Throated Blue.

Still not sure about the Landguard "Paddychiff" though. It looked even less like a Chiffchaff than it did a Paddyfield and it looked bugger all like a Paddyfield!

Phil

[dantheman]

Seemed to remember a story of a Baillon's Crake on a pool in front of a hide with no other bird in sight on Scilly I believe some years ago. . .

I found a Baillon's Crake down at Porthgwarra a couple of weeks ago. It was showing really well in that pool above 60foot cover. Fortunately, I didn't put the news out straight away, because when I looked at it from a slightly different position it was a piece of wood. ;)

[whitburnmark]

...
Also wasn't there a story about the late, great Peter Grant bringing back some dead yank warbler from a trip to the USA and, for a joke, putting it in a lane somewhere on Scilly??

Well remembered. It was a male Black-throated Blue Warbler, I saw it passed around the pub on a beer mat! The story was that it had been picked up on the road having just been hit by a car. There were also rumours that one or two birders had seen it, just as it flew across into the car! It brightened up a dull Scilly evening for an hour or two.

[CJW]

Seemed to remember a story of a Baillon's Crake on a pool in front of a hide with no other bird in sight on Scilly I believe some years ago. Hundreds of birders were ushered through the hide to see it and eventually a birder said that he couldn't see this crake. Apparently the story goes that the usher explained that it was right there in full view and was the only bird there. This guy still said that he couldn't see the crake, and the only bird that he could see was a Sora Rail!!!! So, lots of birders had gone home ticking the former when the actual bird present was even rarer. I expect that others can elaborate on the story which I have only read about and knowing my failing memory, I may have got the species wrong but it must have been a reasonably major mis-id.

I remember a different version of this story.
I heard it was reported as a Spotted Crake and many people ticked it off as such. It was only when the photos were being sold in The 'cressa that the true identity was revealed as a Sora.

[Nick Robinson]

Seemed to remember a story of a Baillon's Crake on a pool in front of a hide with no other bird in sight on Scilly I believe some years ago. Hundreds of birders were ushered through the hide to see it and eventually a birder said that he couldn't see this crake. Apparently the story goes that the usher explained that it was right there in full view and was the only bird there. This guy still said that he couldn't see the crake, and the only bird that he could see was a Sora Rail!!!! So, lots of birders had gone home ticking the former when the actual bird present was even rarer. I expect that others can elaborate on the story which I have only read about and knowing my failing memory, I may have got the species wrong but it must have been a reasonably major mis-id.


Wasn't this a spotted crake that was re-identified as a Sora?

[Colin]

Wasn't this a spotted crake that was re-identified as a Sora?


Hi Nick and Chris,
probably was as this would make the rarity gap greater. I read the article years ago and as I said, the memory struggles somewhat these days.

[PinkSphinx]

Erm... spotless starlings were seen this year on St Kilda, I saw them! Quite far north for them I understand but spotless starlings are no hoax! That was before I got my new glasses so somebody please correct me if I'm wrong ta

[username]

That was an old mate of mine called Martin Read! Fond memories! I remember one of the UEA boyz attending the twitch in a wheelchair: he got stuck in the mud by a hedge and enjoyed fabulous views of the Humbug while his mates (who'd abandoned him!) didn't!

Martin Read? That rings a bell in this old brain of mine! Think i remember 'wheelchairman' as well! Trouble is with me...can't always put names to faces...but always recognize an 'old lag'. Wouldn't it be great? if 'someone' were to do a 'photographic guide to the birders/twitchers of Britain'...potted history etc! Blimy...you'd then get 'new generation' guys going round searchin the attending 'rare crowds' trying to tick off known birders!! Got him...got him...tick...tick....'Avuseen 'the' Craig Robson'?...'No...rare vagrant mate...not quite sure how to get him on me list'....etc...
All the best 'Lightthisfourcandle'....probably seen youz about:t:...
[will get back 'on thread' later;)]....re-lived some great birdy stories down boozer last night!...

[Pete Mella]

Erm... spotless starlings were seen this year on St Kilda, I saw them! Quite far north for them I understand but spotless starlings are no hoax! That was before I got my new glasses so somebody please correct me if I'm wrong ta

Were they spotless starlings, or just starlings with no spots? ;) If they were Spotless Starling you saw a first for Britain...

[sidwemn]

I'm sure many of you remember the Humberside Great Black Headed Gull!

[username]

I'm sure many of you remember the Humberside Great Black Headed Gull!

'Good birder' the finder on this one....no 'knockin' please!

[sideshow bob]

I'm sure many of you remember the Humberside Great Black Headed Gull!

Despite years of trying to forget, the answer is yes!

What did that turn out to be anyway? A mis-ID or an out and out hoax?

Just read Username's post. Did it exist then and just wasn't seen again?

[username]

Despite years of trying to forget, the answer is yes!

What did that turn out to be anyway? A mis-ID or an out and out hoax?

Just read Username's post. Did it exist then and just wasn't seen again?

I believe that it was just a genuine mistake....[friend o mine knows him well n he's a top notch birder]. If the finders readin this i don't suppose e wants to be reminded;)......don't know all the details.....i went for this bird......n it was all a bit confusing at the time! No blame...no shame.......:t:

[Farnboro John]

Highlight of a past Scilly season, think it has happened more than once. My occasion, I remember arriving to a crowd scoping a ploughed field ...thought it was a bit dodgy as I couldn't even spot the cowpat! I am sure it was a case of misidentification - myself, I think it was Mud Splodge Nighthawk.

No real Nighthawk occurred that year, but fortunately did a season or so later, laying that little event to bed.

The Cowpat Nighthawk was even stranger than you might think.

A group of competent young birders were staying at Rocky Hill chalets as they couldn't afford a decent gaff in town. One of their number was a natural victim of practical jokes.

On this occasion he had carelessly allowed his food/drink/soap to run out, and late afternoon he was forced to start the walk down to the Co-op to restock, with a fair bit of birding light left but not much before the shop would close. His "mates" gave him just enough time to almost get there before they very naughtily CB'd a Nighthawk in a field, causing a huge rush and of course forcing matey to abandon his shopping trip.

It wasn't long before they realised just how near they were to a lynching party and a compromise escape message of the "the Nighthawk is a cowpat" was released. By then the shop was shut.

And that's how it happened.

Wouldn't work now that the Co-op keeps 20th century hours!

John

[Farnboro John]

Also wasn't there a story about the late, great Peter Grant bringing back some dead yank warbler from a trip to the USA and, for a joke, putting it in a lane somewhere on Scilly??

When I heard that story (about 1985!) it was Odd Billie and a Black-throated Blue Warbler corpse!

Birding myths......

John

[Farnboro John]

Hi Nick and Chris,
probably was as this would make the rarity gap greater. I read the article years ago and as I said, the memory struggles somewhat these days.

Yes it was! The re-id was in the field - the bird had been there about a week - and Mark Coller took another look at his pic and fessed up. A number of old and hairy Norfolk birders (I recall a small one, a very large one and an upside down head for a start) were going "oh dear oh dear oh dear"!

John

[DunnoKev]

Through the power of google; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Rarities (Cop out I know, a start anyway).

(And would that be one of those times where you could have used the new 'sibe-irony' emoticon smiley thingy?? ;) ;) )

Anyway. Lots of stuff (ing) went on there. I seem to remember hearing one story that LGRE's Great-Great-Uncle Leopold tore through the shires in his trap and foursome at such breakneck speed that the horses keeled over from sheer exhaustion. He then commandeered a passing charabanc going to Brighton, and managed to get dodgy-moustached warbler on his hasty list before it was passed on to the Earl of Norfolk . . . I may have that all wrong mind . . .

Careful DtM, take on one of the Bristow family and we'll all gang up on you,! Take a look at my avatar, tis dear old Grandad George himself, look at him, so sweet and innocent, butter wouldn't melt! He taught me everything I know about bird i.d. and my Godfather Richard Meinertzhagen taught me loads on getting records accepted. Anyhoo, got to go, I understand there's yet another wallcreeper in Winchelsea churchyard on Spike Milligan's headstone....

[Harry Hussey]

Also wasn't there a story about the late, great Peter Grant bringing back some dead yank warbler from a trip to the USA and, for a joke, putting it in a lane somewhere on Scilly??

I believe that a now well-known Irish birder did much the same with some warbler (I wasn't on the scene then, but the guy in question did tell me about it once, and I think it was a Blackburnian?) on Cape Clear in the mid 90s, though I can't recall offhand whether he planned it to be anything more than a practical joke on one or two companions or not.

Here in Ireland, I can remember (in the last 10 years alone) the Connemara 'grey shrike' (likely to have been a male Wheatear, and I went for that and all, out all day in constant drizzle looking), a Cliff Swallow a few years ago that was either on Galley or Mizen Head, seen by unknown British birders, that we are still none the wiser about either way (it MAY have been genuine, we may never know), an Aythya in Co. Kerry that did fool many of us for a while, the Cape Clear 'pelican' (an admitted hoax by island fishermen during a quiet week to see if they could liven things up for birders), my naked-eye sighting of a 'possible Red-throated Thrush' that proved to be an aberrant Blackbird when seen properly on a later date, an aberrant Willow Warbler that masqueraded as a possible Booted for a while, again fooling most of us for a time, and I am sure there are many others that I never knew about, have forgotten, or am too diplomatic to mention...

[Archie Archer]

I remember about 5 years back a series of messages from Spurn as follows:

11.05 - Wryneck at Spurn at the Canal Zone......

11.45 - Wryneck at Spurn showing well at the Canal Zone.......

12.07 - The reported Wryneck at Spurn is a stone!

I wonder if they had to trap it to confirm the I.D.? :smoke:

[BobTag]

Less "historic", but the technologic age has thrown some blinders by entering the wrong species on message. I remember setting off for a Yellow Warbler at Stiffkey (a Yellow-browed Warbler) and a Little Shearwater at Gratham Water (actually a Manx Shearwater), and there have been many more.

Another favourite was the classic pager message "Western Isles, the reported Bee-eater is a Pink-footed Goose".......!!!!

.... the story was that the message was 'phoned into the pager company as a Bean Goose. A combination of thick accent and strong wind led the news to be put out as Bee-eater rather than Bean Goose! The Bean Goose was then re ID'd as a Pink-foot. Classic!

[username]

Here's a little story for youz all..before i go out n do some 'actual' birdin'......
[wot the feck am i still doin on this piggin clicky button type thing?..when i shud be in the field....still avant worked out where you put the slice o bread into this machine...crap toaster...]!
Back on thread: Mates went down Lands End way for a grey cheeked....didn't show...like gone..call went out for a Chesnut sided Warbler on Hayling Island......off they naturally went..[like you wud].........they get there...n it's a bleedin chesnutflanked white-eye! They gets back home havin never taken they're feckin bins out their cases! Meanwhile.....i is at Aberdaron watchin a fantastic Lesser grey Shrike [main course].....n for pudding we had great views of a nearby Forsters Tern!!
[don't let me hear anyone saying 'wasn't the white-eye a tick then?...no it wurnt!! Ta ta!

[Patrick_L]

Another classic pager message I recall concerned an escaped Croc (or similar) in the Birmingham area - "but no access due to Danger of Death".

As I was there on the day but didn't see it - what about the White-cheeked Tern at Dungeness in the late 1980s?

[pbright_thomas]

Wasnt there a cut out/stuffed Black Lark at Rimac or somewhere in Lincs??
Just to stop a fictional hoax entering into the oral history, I believe this is a reference to an invented hoaxing story in Mark Cocker's excellent "Birders: Tales of a Tribe" .... in the story the guy with a reputation for stringing - Robert Barry Shutbill, I think - goes a step too far (before 2004!) and reports a Black Lark in Lincs, together with distant pics. The bird is never re-found and analysis of the pics shows a single profile taken from several angles, i.e. a cut-out.


This example seems to have been pretty close to several real-life incidents, and some genuine sightings have even been portrayed as similar hoaxes, e.g. the Midlands Ovenbird of several years ago.

Cheers, Paul

[gyrfalcon]

Another classic pager message I recall concerned an escaped Croc (or similar) in the Birmingham area - "but no access due to Danger of Death".

As I was there on the day but didn't see it - what about the White-cheeked Tern at Dungeness in the late 1980s?

Can I put in a request for more from Dungeness.. just a personal grudge I have had for 15 years or so!

[QB's finest]

there was a great black headed gull on scillies years back that was a common gull, i remember a pine grosbeak in wells wood, about two other birders there next morning so obviously somebody knew something we didnt, on the subject of classic pager messages: 'princess diana has died' has to be one of the best!

[Patrick_L]

a bleedin chesnutflanked white-eye!

Another escaped Chestnut-flanked White-eye story - in the days of crackly CB radios on Scilly (as opposed to the loud and clear ones these days), broken messages coming through from St Agnes in 1990 ran something like: "A possible Vireo", followed by "It's a White-eye!" and a few moments of panic before it was all sorted.

[gandytron]

Another escaped Chestnut-flanked White-eye story - in the days of crackly CB radios on Scilly (as opposed to the loud and clear ones these days), broken messages coming through from St Agnes in 1990 ran something like: "A possible Vireo", followed by "It's a White-eye!" and a few moments of panic before it was all sorted.

Yes, I was on Aggie when that happened - thought we'd jammed into a stonking yank...alas it was a poxy white-eye (or was it a silver-eye? can't remember...)

[Colin]

...... Richard Meinertzhagen......

Now there is a name that I was trying to remember this morning but couldn't get the spelling even close enough for Google to help me out. Bit of a character. Google him and read for yourself especially the bit about how he killed someone and got it hushed up and the bit on zoology.

[sparrowbirder]

There was a stuffed Night Heron at Big Waters in Northumberland years ago that loads of birders went to see.And i can remember loads of birders twitching a Scops Owl somewhere over in Merseyside it turn out to be a Little Owl.

The infamous Crosby Scops, a phantom Citrine Wag turned up at Hale around the same time to make it a double whammy in the NW!!

[Frenchy]

Now there is a name that I was trying to remember this morning but couldn't get the spelling even close enough for Google to help me out. Bit of a character. Google him and read for yourself especially the bit about how he killed someone and got it hushed up and the bit on zoology.

Richard Meinertzhagen was certainly one of the greatest characters of British ornithology. If anyone is interested and can make it to Cambridge, one of the talks at this years OBC meeting is entitled “The saga of Richard Meinertzhagen” by James Parry. More details can be found here http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=125382 .

There'll be cake too!!!

[Colin]

Richard Meinertzhagen was certainly one of the greatest characters of British ornithology. If anyone is interested and can make it to Cambridge, one of the talks at this years OBC meeting is entitled “The saga of Richard Meinertzhagen” by James Parry. More details can be found here http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=125382 .

There'll be cake too!!!


Hi Frenchy,
Thanks for that info. Would have liked to have gone to that but am away at a cetacean conference that weekend. The cake nearly swung it though!!!

[sparrowbirder]

;)Anybody remember the Seaforth Slender billed gull (early 80s) those were the days !!

[daviddixon]

I recall another Scilly crackly CB incident from I think 1988. News was broadcast of a Canvasback at Porthellick followed by usual headless chicken stampede. It was only on arrival at Porthellick that the true nature of the CB message was established, in one of the hides somebody had left a 'canvas bag'.

David

[sylvia staffs]

Nobody has mentioned the Aberdarron Spectacled Whitethroat in 94.;)

How i did chuckle when i got there and was told the news, with the pager company who i used at the time still putting it out as a Speccy!!!!:eek!:

I remember also the Frodsham Marsh Great Blue Heron and Eleonora's Falcon ;)

Sylvia

[Jynx]

Then there was last year's best pager message on Scilly, "The Pink-footed Goose on St Agnes is a Ring Ouzel " :-O Don't ask me how, but the signal is poor out there!

[Julian Thomas]

Good thread, Hotspur! These stories are legion, and the number of variations that people have heard about incidents real and supposed just add to the fun. This could go on for weeks just as long as no-one takes anything said on this thread too seriously.

Badly-heard CB messages on Scilly are fertile ground for this kind of story. I remember a flurry of panicked CB messages one day asking what it was that had just been reported from St Agnes, until it became clear that it was just a bored birder commenting (favourably) on the quality of the pasties at the Turk's Head!

A personal favourite is the phone call I got back in the 90s from someone who was visiting relatives in West Somerset and reported a Marmora's Warbler on Minehead railway station - to be fair to him by the time he sent me the photos he had realised it was in fact an escaped Diamond Dove!

[Farnboro John]

Tengmalm's Owl in Kielder - I was nearly on the way for that one - luckily a mate going through UEA at the time knew the perpetrator and indicated there was reason to doubt the ability of the observer, who had been trying to study Long-eared Owls and mis-Id'd the creaking of a tree in the wind as a LEO call!

John

[Darrell Clegg]

I recall another Scilly crackly CB incident from I think 1988. News was broadcast of a Canvasback at Porthellick followed by usual headless chicken stampede. It was only on arrival at Porthellick that the true nature of the CB message was established, in one of the hides somebody had left a 'canvas bag'.

David

These are all probably courtesy of the late great "Cardboard Box" The one I remember was "Buff-breasted Sand at Normandy" whch actually turned out to be "The bus is at the bend at Normandy"

Darrell

[Dave Allen]

One of the best bird service messages I ever heard was on NI's Flightline - I am para-phrasing but in essence it was "Red-footed Pipit, Cape Clear - September 31st". The late Willie McDowell actually taped the transcript to replay to any disbelievers.

Remember he Scottish Pigmy Owl rumours?? RHD (whom I was working with for a while in late seventies) half believed the stories and tried tape luring in "the valley" - he did find some birders down the road who had been lestening to the calls......

D

[Patrick_L]

These are all probably courtesy of the late great "Cardboard Box"

A Scilly legend, sadly missed.

Slightly before my time by a couple of years, but I recall a story that the message "Cliff Swallow on The Garrison" became "Cliff Waller's on The Garrison".

[Mike C]

..yet another Scilly classic.
CB barks into life and a crystal clear message "unidentified brown coloured hirundine at Porth Mellon" cue running feet "yeh mate, looks like a brown house martin, still showing well over Port Mellon beach"
"OK we can see the hirundines - where is this bird from the Sand Martin"
Cue deafening silence.....

[Nick Robinson]

Tengmalm's Owl in Kielder - I was nearly on the way for that one - luckily a mate going through UEA at the time knew the perpetrator and indicated there was reason to doubt the ability of the observer, who had been trying to study Long-eared Owls and mis-Id'd the creaking of a tree in the wind as a LEO call!

John

Tell me more on this one? I'm intrigued...

[Patrick_L]

I recall another Scilly crackly CB incident from I think 1988. News was broadcast of a Canvasback at Porthellick followed by usual headless chicken stampede. It was only on arrival at Porthellick that the true nature of the CB message was established, in one of the hides somebody had left a 'canvas bag'. David

I'm sure I recall a variation from the early 1990s - a lost Blue Racksack on Penninis becoming a Blue Rock Thrush.

[the oilbird]

A couple more from the Scilly archives...

Golden Plover ended up being a Wheatear...it was perspective see, near, far, near , far...

Possibly my favourite, corncrake calling on St Mary's, eventually the noise was tracked down and discovered to actually be a farting horse!

[JCL]

Tengmalm's Owl in Kielder - I was nearly on the way for that one - luckily a mate going through UEA at the time knew the perpetrator and indicated there was reason to doubt the ability of the observer, who had been trying to study Long-eared Owls and mis-Id'd the creaking of a tree in the wind as a LEO call!

John

I knew the finder (a mate) and his reputation, and still went up. For some reason we chose to arrive at dawn for a diurnal search. What a waste of time. The finder still sticks by the record, I think, despite the trauma it caused him.

And I also know the perpetrator of the Big Waters stuffed Night Heron [earlier post] but given there's reputedly still a contract out on his head, I'm keeping mum as to her/his identitity. The best bit of the story was when the perpetrator's Mum saw the news story on the TV, recognised the Nycticorax as looking very similar to the one that had sat in her living room until the previous day...

[Clive Watson]

These are all probably courtesy of the late great "Cardboard Box"

God I'd forgotten him. He was still alive when I first visited Scilly in 1992 but was not at all well and it was clearly going to be his last year, so I never actually met him. I don't recall any particular classics from that year, though there weren't many birds to call out. Does anyone have any more info on him?

[Darrell Clegg]

God I'd forgotten him. He was still alive when I first visited Scilly in 1992 but was not at all well and it was clearly going to be his last year, so I never actually met him. I don't recall any particular classics from that year, though there weren't many birds to call out. Does anyone have any more info on him?


He was a resident on Scilly who was into CB radio. As you can imagine there probably weren't that many other people to talk to on the islands so Sept/Oct were the highlight of his year.

Advantages - he wasn't a birder so just sat in front of his CB all day relaying messages about what had been found.

Disadvantages - he wasn't a birder so he didn't have a clue what we were talking about.

CB radios on Scilly were also notoriously fickle with good and bad reception areas and poor battery life (Banfield's made a killing on AA batteries every year) so actually communicating with Cardboard Box was a hit and miss affair.

Poor reception + not knowing bird names = A Scilly classic :t:

DArrell

[gandytron]

I knew the finder (a mate) and his reputation, and still went up. For some reason we chose to arrive at dawn for a diurnal search. What a waste of time. The finder still sticks by the record, I think, despite the trauma it caused him.

And I also know the perpetrator of the Big Waters stuffed Night Heron [earlier post] but given there's reputedly still a contract out on his head, I'm keeping mum as to her/his identitity. The best bit of the story was when the perpetrator's Mum saw the news story on the TV, recognised the Nycticorax as looking very similar to the one that had sat in her living room until the previous day...

what fun they must have had in South America together - one putting stuffed birds in trees, the other stringing them into megas...

[CornishExile]

Rumours of a Pintail Snipe at a bog somewhere in Ireland back in the 90's... 93 or 94?

ce

[username]

I'm sure I recall a variation from the early 1990s - a lost Blue Racksack on Penninis becoming a Blue Rock Thrush.

Luvvit!!:t:.............rhyming slang in the making.....!

Slang...[from my home planet]....for 'oriole'..is 'flyin fur burger'!........if you manage to work that one out i'll give yer an icon that looks like itz being 'rodgered' from behind.....:eek!:.....
[apologies in advance...slightly off thread]...i mean no harm:t:

[PaulMulholland]

Slang...[from my home planet]....for 'oriole'..is 'flyin fur burger'



Took a while but :-O:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O

[username]

Took a while but :-O:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O:-O

as promised....:eek!:........:t:

[ps......not only does 'that' icon look as doh itz being rodgered......i think itz blinkin at me in morse code or somethin......] ....cheers

[Taiga Woods]

Great thread!!
I seem to remember some mischevious sort writing "Palm Olive Warbler at Carn Findit" on the blackboard outside the Cressa years ago. Got some going I believe.
I remember going to Seaforth in the 90's for a Needletail. Apart from the finder we were the only ones there????
As for cock ups was there not a Cattle Egret in Cumbria (?) a couple of years ago that became a Curlew.
More please!

[The Aardvark]

He was a resident on Scilly who was into CB
CB radios on Scilly were also notoriously fickle with good and bad reception areas and poor battery life (Banfield's made a killing on AA batteries every year) so actually communicating with Cardboard Box was a hit and miss affair.

DArrell

If I remember correctly the first thing you said on our CB was "LE is a bog-eyed t**t"?

[Jono L]

[QUOTE=BobTag;1322124] and a Little Shearwater at Gratham Water (actually a Manx Shearwater), QUOTE]

I had just phoned an update out on this one and then five minutes later got a phonecall from a rather excited Mark Hawkes asking if I had reidentified the bird as a Little Shear! I said not, but cra**ed myself thinking maybe I hadn't really grilled it properly and another birder had pulled a mega out of the bag from under my nose. Someone hit the wrong button...

[PaulMulholland]

as promised....:eek!:........:t:

[ps......not only does 'that' icon look as doh itz being rodgered......i think itz blinkin at me in morse code or somethin......] ....cheers

3 quick blinks, s in morse.:eek!:

[BobTag]

Slightly before my time by a couple of years, but I recall a story that the message "Cliff Swallow on The Garrison" became "Cliff Waller's on The Garrison".

"Cliff Waller has a Cliff Swallow on the Garrison". You couldn't make it up. Once he'd worked it out, it was the only time one of my mates climed out the window of Old Town cafe. Why he didn't just go for the door, only he knows....

On the subjects of mis-heards, the very same mate (now a birding tour leader ;)) gets back home to Norfolk late one night, and his wife has scribbled a message "you had a message from Steve (Gantlett), something about your Y-fronts at Holkham". Took until the next day to work out there was a Lesser White-fronted Goose just down the road... ;)

[Jos Stratford]

...his wife has scribbled a message "you had a message from Steve (Gantlett), something about your Y-fronts at Holkham".

A amazingly passive wife, not interested in why his Y-fronts might be at Holkham, more so that another man knows the location! :-O

[username]

3 quick blinks, s in morse.:eek!:

Cheers for that Paul..me didnt know dat:t:.........i communicate in mysterious ways.....[yeah...fat lotta god that is mate when no-one knows wot yur feckin onabout].....next week i shall be commenting mainly in di smoke signals...:smoke:...:smoke:........:smoke:..?..!

[ps......despite [i imagine] popular believe dat i do di 'puff puff' bit...it ain't true i tells ya....not4longtime......itz juz i see's things that others do not [it seems]! no dat don't make me a stringer and no ...i don't see dead people like di little guy in 'Sick Sense'....[di film with di die ard man innit]

All the best to ya mate........stay cool......not like dis man..:C

[daviddixon]

Then of course there was the Saltholme Sandpiper of autumn 1989. Initially broadcast as a Long toed Stint we piled up to the North East where confusion reigned. A wader was found at first light and watched intently, a few locals were saying that was 'the boy', others that it wasn't and others well OK, but what is that wader? I am not sure if the the i.d was ever resolved but I seem to recall Cox's Sandpiper was mooted (but then what is a Cox's Sandpiper?), Pectoral Sand or a Pect' hybrid.

And to add to the days tale we were pulled by the 'bizzies' as we headed back south, when asked why they had stopped us (we hadn't committed any offence) the response was 'what do you expect if you are in an XR3i.

David

[username]

Then of course there was the Saltholme Sandpiper of autumn 1989. Initially broadcast as a Long toed Stint we piled up to the North East where confusion reigned. A wader was found at first light and watched intently, a few locals were saying that was 'the boy', others that it wasn't and others well OK, but what is that wader? I am not sure if the the i.d was ever resolved but I seem to recall Cox's Sandpiper was mooted (but then what is a Cox's Sandpiper?), Pectoral Sand or a Pect' hybrid.

And to add to the days tale we were pulled by the 'bizzies' as we headed back south, when asked why they had stopped us (we hadn't committed any offence) the response was 'what do you expect if you are in an XR3i.

David

Remember bits about that.......was it a case of 'egg pie in face anyone'? [boy they hurt....they might have an eggy centre but the 'crusts' have shards of glass in]...;)
Fortunately i saw the first L.T.Stint..........many suffered at the time by not knowing wot to go for first....little whimbrel at Kenfig?....or the 'funny' yellow legged stint....[as i needed Least Sand...decided...[pure luck]...to go for the funny stint...it had to be something good me thought]. Sometimes 'when itz all happening' you don't know which way to go...!

ps...'pulled by the bizzies'?.....don't go there.....:t:

[JWN Andrewes]

Must have been coming on for ten years back there was a Siberian Meadow Bunting in a car park somewhere in Lancashire(?) that was feeding with some Reeds, flushed, and in its panic collided with one of the parked cars, stunning itself so allowing its finder to catch it up. I seem to recall the poor chap came in for good deal of suspicion at the time as there was nobody with him to vouch for his tale, and Meadow Buntings were considered (correctly or not I don't know) widely available at the time as cagebirds. Not sure what became of the record (whether it got submitted even), but I have a dim recollection of seeing a fuzzy pic of it sitting in a bush post-release.

James

[sylvia staffs]

I saw it in the hand when it was released the next day. The rumour doing the rounds at the time was that he bought it at the National Cage and Avery show!!!!!

I have very bad memories of the hangover i had that morning as well after being on the lash the night before and was to far gone when the news broke to stop drinking/caring!!!!

Sylvia

[Blakeney Resident]

Also wasn't there a story about the late, great Peter Grant bringing back some dead yank warbler from a trip to the USA and, for a joke, putting it in a lane somewhere on Scilly??

last year the tail feathers to a Rufous Bush Robin were found on Blakeney, had me going for a while, was some hoaxer brought it back from Oman, can still see it in the wardens cottage.

also wasn't there a corpse of a Desert Finch found at minsmere a couple of years back on april fools day?

[Farnboro John]

Must have been coming on for ten years back there was a Siberian Meadow Bunting in a car park somewhere in Lancashire(?) that was feeding with some Reeds, flushed, and in its panic collided with one of the parked cars, stunning itself so allowing its finder to catch it up. I seem to recall the poor chap came in for good deal of suspicion at the time as there was nobody with him to vouch for his tale, and Meadow Buntings were considered (correctly or not I don't know) widely available at the time as cagebirds. Not sure what became of the record (whether it got submitted even), but I have a dim recollection of seeing a fuzzy pic of it sitting in a bush post-release.

James

Some of the locals were openly saying on site that had they known who was responsible for the whole thing, they wouldn't have got out of bed for it.

It was a very cold morning.

John

[Julian Thomas]

I went for the Meadow Bunting too, and my abiding memories (stronger than those of the bird) are (1) the very bad wind our driver had all the way up and on site, and (2) the tiger in its cage in Blackpool Zoo, right by the car park, eyeing us up for breakfast.

Didn't stop the same crew going for the Hunstanton bird a few years later, just for the laugh. An amazing number of people had decided to travel to Norfolk to year-tick Red-breasted Goose at Wells, and just happened to dawn the bunting first...

On a slightly serious point, the Lancs bird had a white belly, but the Norfolk bird didn't - anyone know anything about subspecific ID of these? Not that I'm expecting either to have been wild.

[rollingthunder]

It must have been very confusing for anybody with an old-fashioned CB at the time because i seem to recall Cliff Waller on the Garrison watching a Cliff Swallow on the Garrison ! My mate had his field guide out looking at clinching features etc when the thing dived at us and took a dump which he caught on the relevant page and was subsequently pressed into the history book so to speak :-O I also recall (it was possibly the same season) craning my neck on top of the wall to get views of a Yellow Billed Cuckoo only to take a last haf-light walk later on to find the poor thing moribud and all to myself RIP :-C

Whilst on the subject of dead birds i found a dead but in superb nick Long Tailed Skua on Penninis Head which i gave to my mate Dave as he was into stuffing birds;) We duly reported the sp at the Cressa to the late Mick Rodgers to which there was the usual sceptic murmurs around us to which i replied NO not off Penninis Head ON blahblah and my mate held the offending item up displaying outspread wint with faint White flash and long tail it was placed on the pool table for all to come and stroke and the knocks on the door from admirers during the next weeks or so to have another look at it in the fridge kept us bizzy -

Lastly i was camping one year and took by Staffordshire Bull Terrier not realising that the campsite does'nt allow "Dagz" i smooth-talked them around that as returning to the mainland or renting digz with dagz was not really an option only to get stick from a small minority of birders for having a dog with me which was very well behaved i hasten to add - she did redeem herself down Holy Vale by flushing the only Corncrake that i and most of the assembled birders had ever seen B (: i think we were looking for a fem-type Scarlet Tanager at the time

RIP Petal the Staffie o:D

Bi for now - gud thread -

Laurie ex-Blakeney Point when the Lesser Crested Tern woz there

[Andrew Clarke]

Funnily enough I flushed a Corncrake at Holy Vale in 85 that the ornithological elders ignored at the evening log (probably something to do with my demeanour that night, my haircut at the time was quite Hoopoe like)....

Anyway, different story... a couple of rabid young twitcher mates were holidaying at Cley back in the mid-eighties shortly after a Long-billled Dowitcher had been reported at Titchwell. In true teenage style, their limited resources had been rapidly squandered on drugs, sex and rock and roll - (or the birding equivalent... probably Clearasil, Mars Bars and NOA annual reports) - leaving them short of the bus fare to catch their connecting links back up north, via the road to King's Lynn. Panic!

A cunning plan was developed, so they walked out of Nancy's and across to the phone box and called in with hot news of the dowitcher 'showing well' at Titchwell. Somehow they managed to keep a straight face as they asked what the fuss was about as the hordes stampeded out of the said cafe, trampling anything in the way. Amazingly they scrounged a lift and survived the g-force as they sped along the coast, Dukes of Hazard style. On arrival they were so hyped that they were expecting the wader to show up. Bitter disappointment followed for the masses with the guy who took the call dissing the stringy bastards loudly as the perpertrators at his side looked at their feet. What utter cads!

Still, they got home safely. I am still in contact with one of the duo and willing to pass his number on to anyone who wants a petrol refund ;)

[Jynx]

Great tale Andrew :-O

[Xenospiza]

On a slightly serious point, the Lancs bird had a white belly, but the Norfolk bird didn't - anyone know anything about subspecific ID of these? Not that I'm expecting either to have been wild.
cioides (and probably the rather similar tarbagatica and weigoldi) have a pale-pinkish buff belly and off-white vent; castaneiceps (southeastern part of range) has a warmer brown belly.

Not even the Dutch have accepted Meadow Bunting as wild (I refused to twitch it*). I did go for a Japanese Waxwing* though – but its red pigments were so weak that I soon dismissed it as an escape (yes, I like to make friends...)

More interesting was a mystery stint that at the time I would have happily twitched as Least* (it was a Temminck’s × Little according to Lars Jonsson).

All “Southern” Grey Shrikes* claimed in the Netherlands turned out to be particularly healthy Great Grey Shrikes (I went to see one for fun/out of curiosity).

However, the one and only Steppe Grey Shrike* was twitched by many as a Lesser (!) Grey Shrike. The day I went people questioned its identity openly (and I remember murmuring Steppe Grey Shrike – I probably had little idea what it looked like exactly at the time, but then again I obviously wasn't the only one!) Someone else has been credited with calling Steppe first – oh well. This bird is still a sore point for all those that didn't go because they already had seen Lesser...

Other Dutch rarities that weren't, and that I didn't bother going for, are a ‘spotless’ Starling* that got many people excited during a boring birdweek (I didn't go – the first pictures were clear enough) and a ‘little’ Kestrel* on hard-to-reach-quickly Vlieland that again was the victim of bored birders.

A genuine Greater Spotted Eagle near the town where I lived was still claimed a couple of times after it had left because people saw a rather big Common Buzzard. The extent of Griffon Vulture invasions is always cluttered by people who think anything big must be a vulture – the best one must be the flock of about a hundred that turned out to be a flock of White Storks.

From before my time there are a Laughing Gull* (Mediterranean) and a White-rumped Sandpiper (Curlew Sand with a broken bill).

Finally I should mention the notorious Dutchman whose best claim must Eskimo Curlew* (outside of the Netherlands, he can still cause a stir). I believe he once found a genuine Siberian Stonechat though.

All birds marked with asterisks would have been firsts for the Netherlands (and many still would be!)

[Lightthiscandle]

Martin Read? That rings a bell in this old brain of mine! Wouldn't it be great? if 'someone' were to do a 'photographic guide to the birders/twitchers of Britain'...potted history etc! Blimy...you'd then get 'new generation' guys going round searchin the attending 'rare crowds' trying to tick off known birders!!



Here's Martin looking at a very distant Black-eared Kite! Tick away! LOL!

[username]

Here's Martin looking at a very distant Black-eared Kite! Tick away! LOL!

Thanks for the pic LTC.....he does look familiar!......[hope he got good views of kite....it cud be a bit elusive at times]. Cheers..

[yoyo]

Here's Martin looking at a very distant Black-eared Kite! Tick away! LOL!

It would have looked slightly closer if his hands were on his binoculars and they in turn were up against his eyes !
Just an observation.

Dd

[G Anderson]

Thanks for the pic LTC.....he does look familiar!......[hope he got good views of kite....it cud be a bit elusive at times]. Cheers..

There you are, thought you had been chucked off for 'blighting the scene' ! Glad your back, stay cool:t:

[username]

There you are, thought you had been chucked off for 'blighting the scene' ! Glad your back, stay cool:t:

Thanx Areaman......appreciated :t:...ain't touched me 'keypad' lately...i don't trust my dam fingers! [averaging 3 hours kip per night lately...don't ask]!!

...may return to cyberspace in the future when i feel as though i can 'control' my addictive/compulsive/self explosive idiot tendencies!.....[typical 'birder' traits]?;)....

[sorry again to all those out there who rightly got well pissed off]!

ps......stay cool yerself Areaman:t:.......youz a 'nice' guy!..[i'm off birdin...then gonna sleep for a week]!......all the best...