A Twitch in the Wrong Direction!

I received a text message this afternoon from Devilbirder stating that Ian had seen a Black Redstart at Canons Farm. It had been a pleasant sunny day so I decided to take the short journey to Canons Farm to see the bird.

I was going against the traffic therefore the journey was a short and hassle free one. That’s the kind of journey I like and Canons is a great location to spend an evening. Tices in the mean time had come up trumps again and a Wryneck had been found but was proving elusive. This is a Surrey VC tick for me but it was rush hour and I was on completely the wrong side of the county. Ed kept me posted with developments on that front as I searched for the Redstart.

The bird eventually pitched up on the corner of a barn adjacent to the caravan site. It dropped down to the ground several times before returning to the same point. I was stood on the footpath which is well outside of both areas but one of the farm owners/workers obviously thought this was dodgy behaviour as he took up a mobile patrol through the caravan site and out past the barn and back into the house?! If only he knew!

I took a slow walk back towards the Legal and General building and playing fields stopping to speak with Devilbirder on the way. A short lesson from DB on twitter and SMS alerts established that these alerts (that I used to get from twitter!) were definitely out now! I did some ouzeling but the L & G fields were busy with footballers and dog walkers.

A few Yellowhammer, Wheatear and Mpits later and it was time to hit the road and home! A very pleasant evening without any “Where’s is it?” The Tice’s gang are friendly and very accommodating and deserve better than that! Politeness costs nothing!!