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Monday 13 October 2014

Rant!

Checking out the Penduline Tit at Strumpshaw (heard briefly twice: but I'm always happy to take Ben's word for things like this) I happened across Ben's Twitter account: it made interesting but, at times, really irritating reading!

A few 'tweets' down the page I came across a minor debate about a Red-necked Grebe that Linda and I had seen  at Cantley.
http://birdsoftheheath.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/red-necked-grebe.html
I found the dismissive and arrogant comments of some of the posters offensive and self-obsessed: as a matter of record, I have seen dozens of these birds in a range of plumages and found six of my own, including that below. This video-grab is from one of the VHS tapes that Linda and I produced annually in the pre-digital days when many of the kid-listers mentioned above were still struggling with their GCSEs.

These videos sold widely and involved thousands of miles travel annually: they were among the first rarities videos available and included species such as Rustic, Little & Yellow Breasted Bunting, Black-winged, Collared & Oriental Pratincole, Booted, Desert, Icterine & Melodious Warbler, 3 Penduline Tits, Naumann's, Red & Black-throated Thrush, Laughing, Sabine's, Ring-billed & Franklin's Gull (we found the second ever RBG in Norfolk!) Wilson's Petrel, Great, Cory's & Sooty Shearwater, Baird's, White-rumped & Buff-breasted Sandpiper and many, many more. A fair number of these were self found, submitted and accepted. Linda and I both have 430+ life lists, which are not likely to grow except by 'accident' these days.

So I reckon we know a RNG when we see one (although I freely admit the photo is less than clear!)

Should any of you KLs want to buy a copy of any of the videos (or the Butterflies of Norfolk tapes that include some you won't even have heard of!) so you can get an idea of what to look for when something comes up on your phone app or pager, do let me know!