On the evening of 20th September, I was at The Emirates stadium relatively early before Arsenal's Champions League group game against PSV. My phone went and a picture popped up on WhatsApp. It was clearly a Magnolia Warbler. It is not unusual for me to be at a sporting occasion when a mega breaks. I was surprisingly calm. There was nothing to be done straight away. I could still be there by dawn so I settled down for the game and we won 4-0.... I needed Magnolia Warbler for my dips list. I had sat at Wick Airport when the second for Britain on Fair Isle proved to be a one day bird with an overnight departure. I did not fly to the Isle. So no addition to my dips list. Rules are rules. 😊 At worst, the next day my dips list would go up by one. But obviously, I hoped that I would be luckier in the morning.
An eBird checklist tells me that I left home at 1.45am - probably shortly after getting home from the game - with the backdrop of a calling Tawny Owl. Far from a regular sound for me at home. The next day, the twitch went smoothly. I was busy with matters relating to my father's funeral so I did not plan to linger in South Wales. I was at a services on the way home when the Mega Alert changed my mood. Bay-breasted Warbler Ramsey Island. Excellent. I was well placed but it would be busy. When was the first boat and did I need to book in advance? But then followed a story that started off bizarrely and got more and more bizarre over the days that followed. Parallel universes and in my view, downright lies.
I had twitched Yellow-rumped Warbler and Indigo Bunting on Ramsey before. The wardens were grown ups back then. Boats were available. Twitches were easy. But news was filtering through that there would be no access. No bookings were being taken until the Saturday morning. If I had not had pressing family matters (and indeed passengers in the car who also needed to be home), I would have gone to St Justinians and seen and heard for myself that:-
(1) the boat charters were denying the existence of a good bird; &
(2) the RSPB staff were pretending that conditions would not allow access despite wildlife tours going around the island by boat and the sound across to Ramsey Island being a millpond.
A friend's video popped on my phone. I still have it showing that millpond and the fact that the lack of access because of the weather conditions was nonsense. Boats were also seen accessing the island in the intervening period before the Saturday.
The RSPB are a major charity. They have duties to behave appropriately. It is very clear to me that they were lying. Honesty should be an absolute non-negotiable in the Charity sector. Dishonesty should be reserved for secondhand cars salesman, business executives and sadly, in my experience, some of the legal profession. Even they should have consequences.
But I had other things on my mind. I made sure that I was booked for Saturday and went home.
I was back in South Wales at St David's on the Friday evening. I went down to St Justinians myself and read all the guidance for visitors. It was still a millpond. It was lovely and clear. I prayed for a miracle and for the bird to stay for its third night... I met some friends in a local pub and chatted twitching and birds. What would the morning bring?
The next morning brought more clues as to the RSPB's lies and bizarre behaviour over the previous 72 hours. A totally paranoid set of arrangements was in place. A boat represenative arrived who was wound up tightly like a coiled spring. He was convinced that there would be a riot. Voluntary wardens filed past and two police officers set off on an earlier boat. One of those voluntary wardens was a twitcher from the 80s with a reputation for being one of the most badly behaved. Do not get me wrong. We all slip from the highest standards of behaviour but I am an ex-professional of 25 years' standing. To be blunt, I found it all offensive. The organisation, of which I have been a member for 40 years, had betrayed both paranoia and incompetence.
For various reasons, my view of our professional wildlife charities is at a low ebb. My plans to dedicate my retirement for good works with them have definitely hit the cutting room floor. The events of the Ramsey Island Bay-breasted Warbler simply reinforced my views that our wildlife charities are part of the reason for our nature depleted status as a country. Their decision-making is poor and this is likely to permeate into many areas as a result. Fortunately, there are other organisations now filling some of the gaps.
Some will consider my comments are appalling and that the organisations are simply trying to do their best. Please do not categorise my comments as betraying twitching entitlement. I have no such entitlement. Criticising my comments misses the point. My experience of failing organisations over a quarter of a century is that not holding them to higher standards and highlighting 'white lies' and behaviour is exactly how you get poorer and poorer results. That starts with standards and decision-making. It is beyond odd to me that our best funded wildlife charities in the world do not ask themselves whether they need to do better.
The bird had stayed. The views were fantastic and my pics are probably my best ever of a vagrant let alone a second for Britain.
I was soon heading off the island for family commitments. I explained to a warden that I needed to get off the island at the first opportunity due to my father's funeral arrangements. I got a disinterested response when I explained my reasons to exit the island as soon as possible. I was simply told to stand in line on a first come first served basis. I did so only for people then to be walked past me with a police escort in priority for the first boat.
As I was standing on the quay, another Mega Alert threw a spanner in the works. Due to work commitments and Covid lockdowns, I still needed Philadelphia Vireo. Barra seemed a long way away. I had to work out a plan.
My main list is a British, Isle of Man and Ireland one so having seen a Canada Warbler in Ireland and with the nature of my family commitments, I did not allow that to delay me. I was where I needed to be in Essex on Saturday evening at a family gathering. But what would I now do about Barra...? I worked out that I could find a gap as long as I was back by mid-week.
In all the excitement, my photo yearlist had simply gone up by one but my British List had increased by two with Magnolia and Bay-breasted Warblers:-
A few pics including of a Twitter exchange with the RSPB, the actual guidance for Ramsey Island and the briefing by wardens with a police back up...
All the best
Paul
A Amazonian Motmot 001.jpg
A Amazonian Streaked Antwren (male) 004.jpg
A Black-capped Donacobius 002.jpg
A Green Kingfisher 002.jpg
A Green-and-rufous Kingfisher 001.jpg
A Horned Screamer 007.jpg
A Lesser Kiskadee 005.jpg
A Pale-eyed Blackbird 002.jpg
A Pale-vented Pigeon 005.jpg
A Purus Jacamar 005.jpg
A Red-capped Cardinal 001.jpg
A Rufescent Tiger Heron 006.jpg
A Scarlet Macaw 003.jpg
A Wattled Jacana 005.jpg
A White-winged Swallow 003.jpg
B Black Skimmer 001.jpg
B Brown-chested Martin 001.jpg
C Crowned Slaty Flycatcher 005.jpg
C Red-bellied Macaw 003.jpg
D Mottled Owl 004.jpg
