Sunday 8 November 2009

And again I say...

... arse.

Another county tick at Cossington Meadows heard about just too late to be able to get there before dusk! This time Leicestershire’s third (if accepted) Richard’s Pipit, which apparently flew over and then landed in Swan Meadow some time this afternoon. Both the previous records were one day birds – the first, at Cropston Reservoir in 1990, was only seen by the finder (Steve Close); the second (Bardon Hill, October 2006) was seen by a few people, but not me as I was in Shetland at the time. But to be positive, it’s getting quite late for Richard’s so hopefully this one might be thinking about wintering, or at least hanging around for a while. Or perhaps it’s a Blyth’s. And even if it isn’t a Blyth’s I’m sure someone will try and turn it into one if it’s seen again.

However, I shan't be there at first light tomorrow as I have to get some background reference photos for a couple of commissions I'm working on, and tomorrow looks like being the only day of decent light this week. Plus I've got a cold at the moment, and don't really fancy being anywhere other than in bed at first light. Which brings me neatly to:

Quote of the day from Morrissey, explaining why he has had to cancel several gigs recently: “I have endured a titanic struggle with an intolerable virus”. A pronouncement which reminded me of the classic Viz headline: Morrissey - still a twat!

20 comments:

beast said...

Hopefully i might be able to get over tomorrow afternoon for a look...be nice to see some seo's if nowt else. Hopefully this pipit will show itself at some point...a blyth's would be preferable...you never know!
If the call was of house sparrow 'tone' then i guess it will be richards...

ps...yes...morrisey is a bit of a twat but i still like some of his early stuff...

The Leicester Llama said...

Yes, I shall probably have a look late morning or early afternoon.

I don't know much about this report other than the second or third hand info I've heard. Apparently the finder (someone from Notts, can't remember his name - Craig something?) went into Swan Meadow to where the bird seemed to have landed, but it didn't come out, and I assume it wasn't seen again after his initial sighting.

Skev said...

I won't have a chance to go to CM tomorrow. Probably not worth bothering anyway - with the number of Kestrels and Owls hunting over there it will either be dead or long gone. At least that's what I'm consoling myself with so don't fucking spoil it for me by seeing it in the morning you selfish bastards ....
Morrisey a twat? WTF! His lyrical genuis exempts him from being a twat, even when he is one.

Skev said...

Lyrical genuis - what a twat!

davidearlgray said...

Don't worry Andy, it will probably never been seen again and the birder's name was Craig Fallon(or is that a footballer?!).

beast said...

Pipit aside....saw a clip from a recent gig of Morrisey's on news last night. He cut short after two songs...coz some bod in the audience successfully launched a bottle at him on stage and caught 'the twat' directly on his noggin..[head]...shouldn't laugh really....!

The Leicester Llama said...

Steve did tell me the name of the Notts birder who found the pipit - it was Craig something, but I don't think it was Fallon.

Had a look this morning, but that field is huge, and the grass is long enough to hide a bustard in, let alone a pipit! So I suspect you're right, Dave.

There will be another one though, and it's one I've got 'in reserve' - most of the other keen county listers saw the Bardon bird.

Anonymous said...

Not sure I'm totally confident in the claim of Richard's Pipit which was why I didn't put it out until I got home. My discussions with Dave who was on site didn't fill me with much in the way of confidence.

beast said...

Speaking of all things 'pipit'....did anyone else hear about the OBP on Shets that was seen over a few days recently..that turned into a tree pipit..?!!
Wot the flamin fuck is goin on these days...[blah blah blah]....

ps...i didn't go to Cosso for pipit...thought it wud be like trying to find a haystack in a mountain of discarded needles...

The Leicester Llama said...

Didn't hear about that, and it doesn't seem to be on either the Nature in Shetland website or Birdguides (checked back to beginning of October), so it obviously wasn't in the 'public domain'.

Still, it's not quite as ridiculous as putting a Bluethroat out as a 'probable' Siberian Rubythroat!

beast said...

HHmm...maybe it was bollox info then Andy....i think this message was on pager services the other day?....[that was impression i got anyway]...
Maybe if there is any truth in the shets OBP/tree pipit 'story' then it might have been a case of naff flight views and misinterpretation of calls...ie...OBP sounds 'similar' to red throat...red throat sounds similar to tree pipit...and so on n shit...

Anonymous said...

The OBP/Tree Pipit message was on the Pagers... somehow I could forgive that slightly more than the Richards/Tawny/Blyth's/Tawny and Richard's no Red-throated day on St Agnes.

That fecking Tree Pipit in Swinister Burn in 2007 that I fucked up with Simon and dave is a case in point.

beast said...

Talking of 'ridiculous' records...have you noticed that there's a report circulating of 15 white-throated needletails over Saffron Waldon for this August..!!!
So what next..? 50 red billed tropicbirds on a duck pond in Dorset....?

ps..nothing much surprises me anymore...the worlds gone fuckin mad...[as if it was ever any different]...!

Jeff Higgott said...

The first time I've seen Steve Close - king of the single observer county rarity - mentioned in a blog.

Talking of stringers, Is Dave Hoax still active in Leics?

The Leicester Llama said...

Haven't seen Hoax for years, but I presume he's still alive as he gets his name in the Annual Report every year. Fortunately he doesn't seem to see much these days though.

I'm surprised you weren't provoked into responding to the Morrissey thread, Jeff. Personally, I have no problem with him being a pop genius and a twat!

Anonymous said...

It surely follows that to be a 'pop' genius you must also be a twat. That has to be one of the laws of nature.

While we're on about it why don't pop stars ever trash hotels or snort coke from a prossies tits anymore? WTF has happened?

PS - who's Dave Hoax - text me!

beast said...

Did the word 'twat' always mean female genitalia...? When i was younger i always wondered why the word provoked such a strong reaction...especially when i used to use 'that' word in front of my parents...[they didn't mind the word 'twit'..and i could never understand why the change of one 'letter' was so upsetting]...

ps...and speaking of twats n cunts..i see that 'Sting' was coming out with verbal shite the other day...he had a 'point' about 'X-factor'...but sounded a wee bit pompous. He blames the whole 'apparent' demise of the music industry on such tv series..so i am told...[he refused to comment..however...on pipit identification...as itz something else he knows fuck all about]...

ps...i like 'sting' by the way...the 'police' were rather good...[i wonder what sting would say about John n Edwards hair-do's]...?

The Leicester Llama said...

Twat: a bit of Googling reveals the following:

The word twat has meant the female genitalia since at least the mid 1600s, and has been a general term of abuse since the 1920s. It may originate from the Old Norse word þveit (the first character is pronounced 'th') meaning a cut, slit or forest clearing!

I remember someone telling me at school that a twat (also variously twit or twerp) was a 'pregnant goldfish'. This is apparently an urban myth of unknown origin, and has no etymological basis whatsoever.

Another myth is that it was an item of clothing worn by nuns - this apparently arose from a mistaken use of the word in a poem by Robert Browning, who clearly had no idea what it actually meant!

It's strange that people of our parents' generation would object to the word twat, whilst thinking it perfectly acceptable to call someone a 'berk'. But how many people these days remember the origin of that word? It's actually short for 'Berkeley Hunt' - rhyming slang for cunt! And that's not an urban myth - it's the etymology given in Chambers Dictionary.

beast said...

Very interesting Andy...so 'twats' have been around since the mid 1600's...!
As you say..odd that parents, certainly mine, used the word 'berk' quite frequently..yet were appalled by the use of 'twat'!!
I can only imagine the horror my mother must have felt when i first used the word 'fuck' in our household...[i never heard my folks swear]...
It would be a good bet that my first word uttered, after entering this world, was in all probability 'wankers'..[tho i don't know for sure]...

ps..I cannot remember when i last heard the word 'twerp' spoken..maybe it was on Blackadder?...[i can imagine David Mitchell using it].....bring back twerps i say....[i do use the word 'twonk' now...don't know the origins or even if it's in dictionary]...fuck knows...

davidearlgray said...

Andy, I heard the same about twat being a pregnant goldfish, must have made the rounds in schools in the late seventies and early eighties?