he up, trying to enhance my digiscoping skllls ?:watched some terns avin a momment ,reciepents beware ,applicants try me new email address:biggrin hargreavesgeoff@blueyonder.co.uk:
well here goas with the andy makin story short version,it was about 1985,and the usual crew me paul browne,paddy,ian i think at the time and a young lanky,ill looking lad from hidley way ANDY MAKIN-(now andy having longer legs than us shorties).after about 2 weeks of these "im off to check plank lane end on my own"we all got a bit suspicious,had he got some rarity breeding there that he would announce when it had flown,or something similar.so we politely ganged up on him.and after a bit of persuasion he confessed that some young woman was waiting for andy every day and rushing out of the bushes at plank lane end and flashing her thrippeny bits at him.but now he was getting worried has she was pestering him to go to her flat with him in her car and have her wicked way.so good citizens that we all were,we spent the next 4 days camped exclusively by the makin bushes.just in case a glaucus gull dropped in at plank lane of course.Then when nothing happened andy confessed all.She was not the spitting image of olivier newton john with the body of jane fonda which he had told us.she was about 60 ,20 stone,with thripPeny bits like audy murphys saddle bags,and he only told us about her beacuse he was scared she would have her wicked way with him.and being a catholic he wanted to save that for his beloved on his wedding day.by the way is he married yet?any way this monster of a women was never seen again mainly because it scared us all.It was 6 months before we ventured that way again.so beware she still may be lerking behind them bushes at plank lane end
A couple of years ago I was birding at Piethorne at the time of strong late autumn winds which had wrecked a few Little Auks around the country. On arriving at Ogden Reservoir I saw a few gulls mobbing a small bird bobbing around on the water, "surely a Little Auk" I muttered to myself. When I lifted my bins, the "small bird" turned out to be a coke can. D'oh.
first ill set the scene,for anyone who didn;t know us,patrick baglee,very posh from pennington,me rough from the worst council estate in leigh,paul browne somewere in between(just think a younger version of last of the summer wine-we were in our late teens at the time). NOT BIRDS THIS TIME BUT I REMEMBER ONE BORING DAY MID JULY EARLY 80S WHEN MYSELF,PAUL BROWN,AND PATRICK BAGLEE,AT THAT TIME KNOWN BY OTHER LOCALS AS THE PENNY FLASH A -TEAM,HAS WE USED TO SEEMINGLY TURN SOME REALY RARE BIRDS UP AT THE FLASH,DECIDED TO DO A FULL TOUR OF THE FLASH ,HALF WAY ROUND WE CAME ACROSS A SACK OF FLOUR,IN FACT ABOUT 10 2LB BAGS IN A SACK,PADDY DECIDED TO THROW A BAG AT ME,BAD MOVE! I GIVE BROWNY THE WINK AND WE BOTH PELTED PADDY WITH BAG AFTER BAG OF FLOUR,WE WERE ALL IN BARBOUR JACKETS BY THE WAY SO EVERYTHING STUCK WHERE IT LANDED.PADDY WAS WHITE FROM HEAD TO FOOT,THEN GUESS WHAT IT HADN'T RAINED FOR A MONTH,AND SUDDENLY THE HEAVENS OPENED,PADDY WAS LOOKING A BIT PASTRY BY THIS TIME,HE SAID NOTHING WORSE COULD HAPPEN TO HIM THAT DAY.IT DID AS WE TRUDGED BACK TO THE GOLF CLUB,WHERE WE USED TO HIDE FROM THE RAIN.THE BIGGEST HERRING GULL YOU EVER SEEN FLEW OVER LOW AND EMTIED ITS ENTIRE BOWELS ALL OVER PADDYS HEAD.AT THIS POINT THE SOUTH CHESHIRE RSPB GROUP COACH TURNED UP,WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SHOWING THEM ROUND THE FLASH,BUT NO-ONE WOULD GET OFFTHE COACH,WE WONDERED WHY UNTIL WE LOOKED AT EACH OTHER.WE ALL LOOKED LIKE THE 3 GUYS OUT OF THE FILM DILIVERENCE ill keep for another day the story of the lady flasher that kept pestering andy makin at plank lane end
Not me this time, but December 2003 at the American Robin in Cornwall and someone is shouting directions as to where the bird is. Only he can can see it. 400 birders are desperately trying to follow his directions. Eventually there is silence. His mate begins to laugh and tells us all that it's a Chaffinch. Bloody Chaffinches!
But the all time winner was a pager message saying
Western Isles: Bee-eater Lewis sat on wires just north of Stornoway
and then 5 minutes later a another message saying
Western Isles: Correction: Previous message of Bee-eater was erroneous and refers to Pink-footed Goose
I don't think anyone ever got to the bottom of that!
October 2002. Radde's Warbler at Wells Wood in Norfolk. Set off from Manchester 2am and got to Wells just as the sun began to rise. I was absolutely knackered. Saw the Radde's Warbler with another 200+ birders and then I noticed a Jay (one of my favourite birds) sat right at the top of a tall pine tree. I said to a friend something like, "Look at that, you don't see Jays like that very often," to which someone else by the side of me said, "That's because it's a Chaffinch." I laugh about it... now.
I can remember being at the Carn Vean cafe on St. Mary's, Scilly in '83, when the news came through on the CB radio of a Sora Rail on Tresco. A dozen or so of us were waiting for a mini-bus taxi at the end of the lane, as Carn Vean is about afar from the quay as you can get,c2m ?. A mini-bus rolls up, it's not the taxi but Tony Soper and his crew filming. They said they'd give us all a lift to the quay if we just posed for a film shoot and pretend that we are watching something in this field, say a Little Bunting. So there we all are posing for the camera, muttering 'this is the worst view of a Little Bunting I've ever had'.
They did the business for us and got us to the quay to meet the boat to Tresco, that couldn't dock at a nearby quay because of the tide, so the boatmen went into shallow water at a beach nearest to the bird. It was Dunkirk all over again !. Birders leaping overboard with bins and scope held high, in not so shallow water wading to the shore and running up the beach. Got the bird. Good times.
-- Edited by Pete Hines at 01:08, 2007-04-24
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Last year I went to look for the Ring-necked Parakeets in Birchfield Park, Rusholme. It was very early morning. I`d not a clue where to start looking and I was just wandering aimlessly around. A young couple walked past looking at me enquiringly and said `Morning` and I said the same and then asked them had they seen any `strange looking birds` knocking about. I explained what I was looking for but they couldn`t help me. Next came a chap with some dogs. He had a teeshirt on showing his bulging muscles off and it was quite obvious that he was `gay`. We nodded to each other and I asked him `Do you come here often ?`, meaning to go on to say had he seen any big green birds blah blah blah. The moment the words left my mouth I suddenly realised what I`d just said !..........I made a quick exit !
I can do a very good impression of a collared dove call by cupping my hands together and blowing into them. I usually wait for a dove to call near my garden and I copy its call , if he hoots twice then so do I it normally ends with the dove flying high and then swooping down trying to show who`s the boss.
A couple of years ago I was sat in my garden and a dove called once , I could not see it but I decided to return 1 hoot . The dove then hooted twice so I did the same. It hooted 3 times so I return the 3 hoots , it then hooted 4 times and I got out of my chair at that point looking for a dove that could count. I returned 4 hoots without seeing the dove. The dove hooted 5 times and I put up my step ladders and climbed to the top so to get a better look around ,still I could not see the counting dove and I returned 5 hoots , the dove hooted 6 times and by standing at the top of my ladder I could just see 3 doors down where my neighbours 10 year old son had his cupped hands to his mouth.
No real Stella moments for me unfortunately (or should that be fortunately?) but during the late 80's/early 90's (all a blur, so can't remember the year) whilst on Scilly, I was back at the Guest house getting changed when I could see all these birders running past heading off up the street in St.Mary's, then birding partner Andy Makin burst in shouting about a Nighthawk, so still being in me undies I grabbed me trousers (or keks for those in Wigan!) and ran off up the street, pants in hand! They say everyone's famous for 15 minutes, well I was pretty well known at the time as the guy who ran up the street in his undies for a Nighthawk that turned out to be a cowpat, fortunately I managed to get me pants on before I got to the gathered crowd and never actually saw the 'pat'!
I reckon these plastic Owls aren't there to scare the birds. They're put there so the locals can have a laugh at all the Birdwatchers having their "Stella" moments
4-5 years ago. A well known area of water in the west of the county. I'm walking around a little visited bit of the site when I see something Orange in the reedy margins about 100yds away. Quick look through the bins. 'Oh *h**' Pinkish flush below the orange. Black body. King Eider. In Wigan. Surely not. Walk 50 yards closer. Why is it in the margins? Must be injured/sickly. Its not moved. another 25yds revealed a Tango can on a rock with an icecream wrapper plastered around the front of the rock. An important lesson here somewhere.
I've also successfully stalked a plastic little owl. Problem was I did it in full view of a number of horse riders in a paddock a couple of fields away who obviously knew what I was doing and equally as obviously knew the Owl was plastic. I dont like horse riders
-- Edited by Craig H at 22:06, 2007-04-23
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A couple of years ago I had a key & permit for no.3 bed at Woolston Eyes. I was on my own in the hide with the log-book in (don`t know what they called this hide). Set my scope up and then started scanning with binocs. Far out on top of a pylon there was `something big`. I swung the scope on it and..........`bloody hell - Eagle Owl` (size, and shape of ear tufts) but it didn`t seem to move. Asleep thought I. What do I do, who do I tell ? I was confident with the id. and `phoned Birdguides. After questioning me they said `o.k`. I then looked round the hide and came across a contact number for the club secretary or somebody of the Woolston Eyes conservation soc. I excitedly called and told him.............he said ; `do you mean the PLASTIC OWL THAT`S USED FOR KEEPING THE STARLINGS OFF THE WIRES ?????? I very hastily `phoned Birdguides up again and told him my gaffe.
I've had 2 stella moments(that i'm owning up to anyway) One was on A6 years ago think it was in the Garstang area. Pulled up sharp after spotting a huge Owl on a telegraph pole. Me and the wife got out to look but couldn't decide what it was. It was deffinately an Owl, unfortunately as we got very close we realised it was made of wood. Had us both fooled. No idea why it was there.
Second one was telling my wife I'd got a Bittern in the scope at Marshside "Is it near that rotten fencepost?" She asked "What rotten fencepost?" Was my reply
i,m not antisocial but do quite a bit of early morning birding on the irwell in salford so my stella moment was by nature unobseverd.whilst meandering along in the half light almost sure i was looking at a little grebe i glanced skyward and sure enough the eagle owl had flown in from bolton and landed atop of harry ramsdens (top spot for me)i was just going press send on the text, but as the sun hit it i noticed the pigeon poo on it,s wing and just saved meself being teased for a lifetime.its still roosting there if need the tick
No your not the only one Mark, but mine was much worse. So much so I dont feel able to impart it on such a well attended forum as this
Now you can't come out with such a statement, on, as you put it "such a well attended forum as this" (now averaging 920 views a day no less ), without actually telling us the whole story Craig, now can you
Yep! I can make you wait a bit anyway.
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I know of someone back over in yorkshire who did very similar to the stella can! Whilst on seawatching trip off the cornish coast (are they called paleagic trips??) he shouted Portuguese Man Of War starboard side for everyone to come rushing to see a Tesco carrybag floating on the sea! class
No your not the only one Mark, but mine was much worse. So much so I dont feel able to impart it on such a well attended forum as this
Now you can't come out with such a statement, on, as you put it "such a well attended forum as this" (now averaging 920 views a day no less ), without actually telling us the whole story Craig, now can you
I will tell all, just to stop my mate keith reminding me of a snap id one misty morning at wigan flashes. We had gone to see the R C pochard on Pearsons. The mist was dense in patches as we approched the water along the canal bank. I saw a buff coloured head merging into a redish flank with darker markings, this was back lit and cast a shadow toward us. Some where in my early morning torpid state I called "R C pochard, middle of the bay". Keith used his bins and with a huge smile on his face said " sorry thats a Stella can". so remember all think before you open your mouth and use your bins or you will feel a right numpty. Has anyone had the stella moment dont let me be the only one. mark.
No your not the only one Mark, but mine was much worse. So much so I dont feel able to impart it on such a well attended forum as this
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Sounds like you'd drunk the contents of the can first with that one Mark
One from the early eighties, not exectly a Stella moment but certainly a legend to the group of Pennington Flash 'moochers' who were there (and I think John Tymon was), was a certain observer, not on this forum but well know in the county, screaming at the top of his voice (and I do mean screaming!) "Goshawk".................all lift their bins in unison and burst out laughing as an immature Lesser Black backed Gull drifts over over heads
I will tell all, just to stop my mate keith reminding me of a snap id one misty morning at wigan flashes. We had gone to see the R C pochard on Pearsons. The mist was dense in patches as we approched the water along the canal bank. I saw a buff coloured head merging into a redish flank with darker markings, this was back lit and cast a shadow toward us. Some where in my early morning torpid state I called "R C pochard, middle of the bay". Keith used his bins and with a huge smile on his face said " sorry thats a Stella can". so remember all think before you open your mouth and use your bins or you will feel a right numpty. Has anyone had the stella moment dont let me be the only one. mark.
)
), without actually telling us the whole story Craig, now can you 
