Having birded at Upton for 30+ years, I have had some great moments, but also some really frustrating times; being outside the concrete-hide as a Roseate Tern floated past, enjoyed by the rest of the lads who remained inside; deciding to leave the Hen-Brook hide to relieve myself, only for the Bluethroat to decide to re-appear the moment I had left! and passing a couple outside the Cuckoo hide who, 2 minutes later, had a male Montagu's Harrier over their heads!
However, on the morning of 13th May 2000, the stars finally aligned themselves in my favour. Strolling through the Education Reserve, I was stopped in my tracks by a snatch of song that I couldn't quite believe. Indeed, despite calling JTB who was on the Flashes, just to float the ridiculous notion of what I had heard, I continued over to the Moors, hearing the snatch of song again on my way over. Sitting in the East Hide, I had a nagging feeling about that call so walked back down the Salwarpe on my way to Webbs for my breakfast. Again, a half-phrase of call, but surely it was just the couple of blackbirds that had been singing together, blending their fluty-songs just to wind me up? I stood around for 10 mins or so, but all was quiet and my stomach was rumbling, so off to Webbs I trundled.
One of the things I have learned over the years of birding, is to always trust and follow-up on your gut-reaction/first-instincts, when you first come across a sight or sound, and don't walk away from it until you have nailed the culprit! This realisation dawned on me as I was tucking into my breakfast and then the panic began to set in - what the hell was I doing eating brekkie when there was a major Upton-rarity across the road with my name on it!!?? I wolfed down the final sausage and literally sprinted out of Webbs straight back into the Eddy. Just as my heart-rate had levelled, I came across Roger Hill and was about to tell him what I thought I had heard earlier, when the moment happened.....a moment I had dreamt of and a moment that remains to this day, the most amazing birding-experience of my life......a glorious, full and fluty undulating call, of exquisite, almost otherworldly resonance, echoed through the tree-tops - Roger and I stared at one another, slack-jawed, and even still, I could not believe what I was hearing. This prompted what will go down as one of the greatest quotes in Upton folk-lore, as Roger uttered the immortal line - "If that's not a Golden Oriole, I'll chuck my bins in the lake!!" We tried desperately to locate the beauty and eventually, I had a 10 second flight-view of a magnificent, male Golden Oriole. My most favourite bird, found on my most favourite reserve, which happened to be my local-patch - birding does not get any better than that.