Wednesday 25 May 2016

2000 Light Years From Home - The Rolling Stones

There is some disagreement within the mechanics of the Laptop
as to which 'number' Post this actually is?
On the one hand Overview is telling us 2004 while
Stats suggests 2000, we would consider the latter more accurate in this instance.
Their Satanic Majesties Request
Whichever, it is a significant Post today from the Bagsy Blog, for 2 reasons, one as our 2000th to be published and secondly what might have been our last had it not been for an unknown number of our dedicated and much valued Readers. It would appear that someone (or plural) among you did heed the plea, posted some days ago, and took the time and trouble in disseminating our Link to Families and Friends. There has been something like a 20% rise in 'hits' since that time.
SINATRA WOULDN'T WARBLE TO AN AUDIENCE OF 25!
 THANKS TO THOSE WHO MADE THE EFFORT
A few other Statistics also show that we have
Been in Existence for 2476 Days, since 14/08/2009
Totalled 567,644 Hits (approx)
Attracted Readers from 178 Different Countries
and have 92 Members/Followers
while this was the very first image published
 WANDERING ALBATROSS - New Zealand
To mark, what we consider to be an auspicious occasion, we are going to
show some of our 'finest hours' from our personal
World of Birds.
We hope you enjoy this brief sleigh-ride and then maybe
PASS THE LINK TO YOUR FRIENDS and FAMILIES - PLEASE!
It is very much doubted, with the years slipping away and having become
something of a 'recluse', that we will ever top this our
Number One Spot.
This
RED-NECKED STINT
was found on the foreshore at Ferry Bridge, Portland on 27/08/2010.
Text Messages were sent to all my 'then' associates giving a description of a "most unusual and tiny red Wader which warrants further investigated", but not as to a specific identification, as still unknown at the time. Unfortunately, no one turned up before it flew off 30 minutes later, never to be seen again.
Having not clapped eyes on a Red-necked Stint before, after the
event a good number were seen on a 3rd trip north on the
Alaska Highway
and onward to the State's most northerly town, Barrow.
Monday 15 May 2000
doesn't go down in the annuls as a particularly sparkling day for
Migrant Birds, despite it being the height of the season.
Having completed what was my 'usual' rounds in those days, walking from home, a couple of circuits of Radipole NR, walk Weymouth sea-front to circumnavigate Lodmoor then, as The Bus Pass Birder, took public transport over to Portland. Only one other person, Alan Bull, was at the Portland Bird Observatory with the Warden and both very busy with other duties including running a series of mist nets. After a chat and a coffee it was time to head home, but at the main gate for reasons unknown a left was taken rather than the right back to Weymouth. Stood on a rock outside of what was then known as The Pulpit Inn, and taking in the sun, an unfamiliar 'zitting' sound met my ears and raising the binoculars in the general direction, immediately lock-on to what could easily have been a Bumblebee. Tightening the grip i an effort to keep on what had now manifested itself as a 'BIRD', the little darling landed in the bushes right beside me. Taking in all that was needed to convince myself as to what it was, I raced (whoops, plausible up until now) back to the Obs to report the finding. With the mist nets unfurled Martin Cade (the Warden) decided to stay while Alan Bull followed me back to where Great Britain's 'THIRD' and my
Number Two Spot  
FAN-TAILED WARBLER
or more correctly
ZITTING CISTICOLA
was last seen. The bird was relocated, the news sent Nation Wide with 'hundreds', if not 'thousands' of fellow birder getting to see it. A strange sequel was that it was seen again only briefly the next day (16th), but followed on the 20th to the 31st by another, distinctly different, individual which was initially found at Hengistbury Head but later moved on to Stanpit Marsh, both also in Dorset.
(the 2 images above were taken by myself in Cypress)
Spot Number Three
should really be in part attributed to my 'dear friend' and erstwhile
Drinking Partner of the Celebrated
Oliver Reed and Alan Bates
Lorne (Bowie) Edwards.
On Sunday 19th May 2 years later he, his wife Sheila and myself were enjoying an early morning coffee when right out of the blue Bowie suggested we bomb off to Frensham Little Pond, Surrey in hopes of seeing a 'fairly long-staying' Great Reed Warbler. Sheila had other things to do and having seen a number of these before we left her to it, but this could be a 'Lifer' for me. On arrival this Skylark sized skulking bird was located almost immediately by its raucous and continuous chatter, but seeing it was quite a different and difficult matter. On view a dozen times or more during that couple of hours stay, it was not the sight of this rather nondescript bird that would stay with me, but its seemingly endless and distinctive, guttural reeling song. Early next morning, standing at the northern shelter I had dubbed Edwards' Folly (as it was Bowie who built it) the sound of that bird just wouldn't leave my head, sounding as if it was once again right next to me. Blinking Heck, it was, right there in the reed-bed next to me and only recognised by the experiences of 'Yesterday Once More'.
GREAT REED WARBLER


Radipole Lake, Weymouth.
© Martin Cade.
ON THE 'WORLD WIDE' SCALE
the experiences have been blinding and numerous, simple far to
many to mention on a single Post! Just to touch on a few, while leaving the
VERY BEST UNTIL LAST. 
At the time of visiting Colombia at the end of 2009
the incredibly beautiful and dainty endemic
DUSKY STARFRONTLET
was only known to exist in one small acreage in the whole country.
What a privilege then to be part of a group which found others in
a totally new location.
During that same trip a
FORSTER'S TERN
was found which was the 'first ever' for Colombia!
The following year on a solo trip in Salinas, Ecuador what is claimed to be a
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL
was found on a local beach.
While all the relevant and necessary information has been submitted
to the correct authority, and follow-up enquiries made, this record still
has not been ratified or accepted as likely not only the 'first of the species'
but also the 'first white-winged' Gull record on the sub-Continent.
The most exhausting and wide ranging Mass Twitch, if you like, was recording all
54 recognised (at the time and as far as is known still today)
Species of Gull in the World.
The idea only dawned after the realisation that half of that number had been seen
some years before, with all but 3 being captured on camera. These,
Ivory Gull, Ross's Gull and Relict Gull, are illustrated in this Post
by images 'borrowed' from Wikipedia and noted *.
 PACIFIC GULL
 the largest of all the Worlds Gulls and definitely the biggest bill.
KELP GULL
 is wide spread across all of the Southern Hemisphere with this particular image taken in
 New Zealand
and this in 
Antarctica.
Other images are held from as far afield as South Africa 
(where it is known as Cape Gull), Australia,
the Falkland Islands, Peru, South Georgia, Argentina etc.
BLACK-TAILED GULL
Incheon, South Korea
 WESTERN GULL
Los Angeles, California, USA
YELLOW-FOOTED GULL
Baja California, Mexico
SLATY-BACKED GULL
 Busan, South Korea
 CALIFORNIA GULL
Oregon State, USA
 YELLOW-LEGGED GULL
La Coruna, Spain
 AMERICAN HERRING GULL
Cape May, New Jersey, USA
CASPIAN GULL
Weymouth, Dorset
 
 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL
England
 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL
England
and
 North Sea
 HEERMAN'S GULL
 Mercedes, California, USA
(we have never been lucky enough to track down an adult)
 THAYER'S GULL
Oregon State, USA
 RING-BILLED GULL
Native of the USA but seen on a number of occasions in England
 COMMON GULL
England
 MEW GULL
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (YT), Canada
at home on the ground
or in trees
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
 where again they are content to nest
Burwash Landing, Mile 1093, Alaska Highway, YT
 as they are on the ground
Beaver Creek, YT
SABINE'S GULL 
a circumpolar species with this individual being a little off course at
Portland Bill, Dorset.
Another wanderer from the north
GLAUCOUS GULL
again in Dorset, this time taken at Swanage.
ICELAND GULL
another of the 'white-winged' group photographed at
Ullapool, Scotland.
Having only ever seen
IVORY GULL*
twice in my life,
Chesil Beach, Portland, Dorset in 1980 and the Montrose Basis, Scotland in 2002
it is thought a great pity that a camera wasn't 'picked up' earlier in my wanderings.
Both were juvenile birds but by way of compensation, when Hugh returned
from a trip to Spitsbergen, he had one of his images of an adult transposed
onto a coffee mug for me!
 
BLACK-HEADED GULL
This young bird was saved from certain death on the
Buchan Alpha Floating Oil Platform, North Sea.
BONAPARTE'S GULL
Toad River, British Columbia, Canada.
LITTLE GULL
Christchurch Harbour, Dorset.
LAUGHING GULL
Progreso, Mexico.
FRANKLIN'S GULL
Salinas, Ecuador.
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL
Wakkenai, Northern Japan.
BLACK-BILLED GULL
Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand
SILVER GULL
Perth, Western Australia.
RED-BILLED GULL
North Island, New Zealand
and said, by some authorities, to be the same species as that above.
 HARTLAUB'S GULL
Cape Town, South Africa.
GREY-HOODED (Headed) GULL
The Gambia.
SWALLOW-TAILED GULL

Isla Santa Fé, Galápagos.
It is the only fully nocturnal Gull and/or Seabird in the World.
It also qualifies as my outstanding favourite of them all.
LAVA GULL
Isla Seymour Norte,  Galápagos.
 ANDEAN GULL
Parque Nacional Lauca, High Andes, Chile.
GREY GULL
 Mantra, Ecuador
BELCHER'S GULL
Haucho, Peru.
Similar in every way to
  OLROG'S GULL
which was once a sub-species of the above, only 'split' in relatively recent years.

 Mar del Plata, Argentina.
While Belcher's is confined to the Pacific Coastline, Olrog's is resident
on parts of the Atlantic Seaboard of South America.
 Another South American Beauty is the
DOLPHIN GULL

Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego, 
Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina.
 BROWN-HEADED GULL
 Unfortunately, during a full 2 weeks stay in Sri Lanka this was the
full album of shots of this fine little Gull.
RELECT GULL*
 the final species to be added to the Gulls of the World List after a merry chase!
 With a 3 weeks trip to Mongolia under our belts and no fewer than
3 visits to China, it was only on a second trip to South Korea that we
finally caught up with this almost mythical Gull.
These images were sent to me by Svetlana Ashby with © attributed to her friend.


It was on that first trip to South Korea that we encountered the diminutive

 SAUNDERS'S GULL
(Chinese Black-headed Gull)
 second smallest Gull in the World after our own Little Gull.
 The top image was taken at Incheon, South Korea
while the others were secured on Taiwan.
BROWN-HOODED GULL
Falkland Islands.
MEDITERRANEAN GULL
 Ferry Bridge, Portland, Dorset.
A most welcome colonist to our shores.
SLENDER-BILLED GULL
 Sharm el Sheikh
and
The Gambia.
AUDOIN'S GULL
Essaouira, Morocco
 WHITE-EYED GULL
Sharm el Sheikh
 SOOTY GULL
ditto,
PALLAS'S GULL
and again.
 KITTIWAKE
 North Sea Oil Platform Buchan Alpha.
RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE
with (Common) Kittiwake 
The penultimate Gull and my longest 'twitch' ever.
Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea.
ROSS'S GULL*
The only one ever seen was on the River Ply estuary,
Plymouth, Devon on 17/03/1988.
This 'fine' painting has been 'borrowed' from Wikipedia, if we are
about to be sued, let's do it in style!
RED = Counties Not Visited Personally
Bold = Not included in Countries total

Num
Perc.
Country Name


107002
71.78%
United Kingdom = 4 Countries

11376
7.63%
United States

2403
1.61%
Canada

2039
1.37%
Estonia

1596
1.07%
Australia

1482
0.99%
Germany

1384
0.93%
France

1291
0.87%
Netherlands

1140
0.76%
Japan

1006
0.67%
Italy

979
0.66%
India

967
0.65%
New Zealand

892
0.60%
Spain

826
0.55%
Philippines

649
0.44%
Brazil

595
0.40%
Taiwan

565
0.38%
Sweden

547
0.37%
Korea, Republic Of

538
0.36%
Switzerland

524
0.35%
Poland

494
0.33%
Thailand

469
0.31%
Belgium

388
0.26%
Norway

386
0.26%
Russian Federation

352
0.24%
South Africa

333
0.22%
Mexico

315
0.21%
Ireland

303
0.20%
Turkey

297
0.20%
Romania

290
0.19%
Finland

285
0.19%
Malaysia

284
0.19%
Peru

281
0.19%
Indonesia

256
0.17%
Greece

238
0.16%
Portugal

224
0.15%
Denmark

211
0.14%
Czech Republic

211
0.14%
Hungary

210
0.14%
Colombia

203
0.14%
Argentina

186
0.12%
Singapore


183
0.12%
Pakistan


181
0.12%
Israel

180
0.12%
Hong Kong

176
0.12%
Sri Lanka

175
0.12%
United Arab Emirates

171
0.11%
Ukraine

166
0.11%
Saudi Arabia

133
0.09%
Panama

129
0.09%
Bulgaria

125
0.08%
Chile

124
0.08%
Vietnam

120
0.08%
Venezuela

116
0.08%
Slovakia

113
0.08%
Croatia

110
0.07%
Austria

109
0.07%
French Guiana

100
0.07%
Serbia

99
0.07%
Costa Rica

96
0.06%
Oman

88
0.06%
Suriname


86
0.06%
Europe

86
0.06%
El Salvador

80
0.05%
Malta


79
0.05%
Anonymous Proxy


78
0.05%
Bangladesh

70
0.05%
Lithuania

69
0.05%
Guyana

69
0.05%
Egypt

67
0.04%
Qatar

64
0.04%
Ecuador

63
0.04%
Madagascar

53
0.04%
Morocco


41
0.03%
Palestinian Territory - MORE'S the PITY

41
0.03%
Guatemala

39
0.03%
Asia/pacific Region

38
0.03%
Slovenia

38
0.03%
Trinidad And Tobago


37
0.02%
Iraq

37
0.02%
Luxembourg


37
0.02%



36
0.02%
Georgia

36
0.02%
Dominican Republic

35
0.02%
Guernsey

35
0.02%
Mongolia

34
0.02%
Latvia

31
0.02%
Macedonia

30
0.02%
Jamaica


30
0.02%
Lebanon

29
0.02%
Haiti

28
0.02%
Yemen

27
0.02%
Cyprus

26
0.02%
Satellite Provider

26
0.02%
Kenya

26
0.02%
Cambodia

26
0.02%
Netherlands Antilles

25
0.02%
Belarus

24
0.02%
Kuwait

23
0.02%
Jersey

23
0.02%
Jordan


23
0.02%
Namibia

23
0.02%
Saint Kitts And Nevis


22
0.01%
Algeria

20
0.01%
Lao People's Democratic Republic

19
0.01%
Bahrain

19
0.01%
Isle Of Man


19
0.01%
Nepal

18
0.01%
Puerto Rico

18
0.01%
Gibraltar

17
0.01%
Belize

16
0.01%
Uruguay


15
0.01%
Maldives

14
0.01%
Albania

14
0.01%
Moldova, Republic Of


14
0.01%
Nigeria


14
0.01%
Mauritius

14
0.01%
Barbados

13
0.01%
Bermuda

13
0.01%
Armenia

13
0.01%
Honduras


12
0.01%
Tunisia

12
0.01%
Brunei Darussalam


12
0.01%
Sudan


11
0.01%
Azerbaijan


11
0.01%
Reunion

11
0.01%
Montenegro

10
0.01%
Bosnia And Herzegovina

10
0.01%
Iceland

9
0.01%
China

9
0.01%
Tanzania, United Republic Of


9
0.01%
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

9
0.01%
Virgin Island, U.s.

8
0.01%
Zimbabwe

8
0.01%
Aruba

8
0.01%
Bahamas

8
0.01%
Antigua And Barbuda

7
0.00%
Martinique


7
0.00%
Kazakhstan

6
0.00%
Eritea

6
0.00%
Seychelles


6
0.00%
New Caledonia


6
0.00%
Bhutan

6
0.00%
Faroe Islands


6
0.00%
Uganda


5
0.00%
Guam

4
0.00%
Zambia

4
0.00%
Saint Lucia

4
0.00%
Virgin Islands, British

4
0.00%
Bolivia

4
0.00%
Cayman Islands


4
0.00%
Syrian Arab Republic


4
0.00%
Ghana


4
0.00%
Iran, Islamic Republic Of


3
0.00%
Fiji

3
0.00%
Botswana

3
0.00%
Paraguay

3
0.00%
Dominica


3
0.00%
Myanmar

3
0.00%
Guadeloupe

3
0.00%
Gambia


3
0.00%
Cameroon


2
0.00%
Cote D'ivoire

2
0.00%
Falkland Islands (malvinas)

2
0.00%
Macao

2
0.00%
Andorra


2
0.00%
Gabon

2
0.00%
Grenada


1
0.00%
Malawi

1
0.00%
Anguilla


1
0.00%
Afghanistan


1
0.00%
French Polynesia


1
0.00%
Uzbekistan


1
0.00%
Vanuatu

1
0.00%
Swaziland

1
0.00%
Monaco

1
0.00%
Turks And Caicos Islands


1
0.00%
Rwanda


1
0.00%
Northern Mariana Islands


1
0.00%
Senegal






EntryPageviews
United States
481
United Kingdom
333
Germany
194
Russia
57
China
31
Estonia
30
Poland
19
Brazil
18
Canada
11
France
8