The Snow Bunting which was found at Maiden Castle a few days ago has turned into a real saga with delayed news appearing via a third party on a whattsapp group which was set up for “local” birdwatchers to circulate bird news. The moderator stepped in to split the schoolyard up and clarify the position!
I will be adding I didn’t know I could post on this group to the regular excuses of not having a phone or one with no battery or credit for not circulating news of a rarity! I have experienced this first hand at my former patch where the system worked perfectly until a good county bird was found by a single observer on the site. The finders response was just as BS as the above (fortunately it was not a first!)! If you don’t want to share your find be honest about it and be big enough to take the flack when others find out (Because they always do!)!
I am glad to say that I caught up with this local rarity having spent the day Kojak style skulking the lanes. A shout from Ashley had me looking in the right direction. He had briefly seen the bird fly over the road that leads down to the car park. Once I had found the bird feeding by the roadside I even stopped traffic to secure photos just in case the bird decided to fly off. I’m not sure what the drivers thought as I scurried commando style through the scrub at the edge of the field!
The bird was so settled feeding just inside the gates to the un-ploughed field a tank could have driven by and it would not have flinched. Pictures secured and detailed news circulated and I watched on for nearly an hour before leaving the bird to continue its feast! Third time lucky and a new county tick! Woo Hoo!
It wouldn't surprise me if another rarity was found here with the numbers of birds utilizing the freshly ploughed sunflower fields. But there are so many sites within a few clicks of my home to cover which is why using news groups is so important!
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