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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jonno52" data-source="post: 3470884" data-attributes="member: 72350">Well, my chance to rather go off on a rant!I never connected with Hawfinch, Penduline Tit, any Shearwater other than Manx, or any pratincole other than Oriental (yes, I know!).And Blyth's Pipit! I went for a well-watched one many years ago (can't remember where it it was now ) but a whole bunch of people said it was at the bottom of an isolated patch of vegetation surrounded by shingle if memory serves. It had been seen 10 minutes before I arrived. After 3 hours intensive watching, a pipit-sized bird lifted up from the vegetation and immediately dropped again like a stone. "That was it!" people said. Couldn't count it, of course. The more galling because before then I'd had reasonable if distant views of the famous "Portland pipit", back in the 1980s IIRC. Many people wanted that to be Blyth's, but after some years Peter Grant's doubts were vindicated and it was ruled to be Richardson's (bah, already on my list).Lifelist is the same as my British list - 309 (since removing Goshawk - saw it at a prime site for the species, and from about half a mile it looked enormous but that won't do) and Least Tern at Rye Harbour in 1992 (excellent views, call heard, a photo taken, but it's not been split and not countable). Very unlikely to get more because of poor mobility, but I'm happy with some marvellous memories, detailed notes and photographs.</blockquote>