Friday, 21 October 2016

1st PALE-LEGGED/SAKHALIN LEAF WARBLER for scilly

This PALE-LEGGED or SAKHALIN LEAF WARBLER (1st for scilly and 2nd for the Western Palearctic) was still warm when Fran Hicks picked it up from under his conservatory window in the Lighthouse garden, St Agnes!! Picture Laurence Pitcher

A switch from a north easterly to east-south easterly breeze overnight payed off. Early morning I had just arrived at Porth hellick when Big Al called to say that Jim had trapped a Yellow-browed Warbler. I had already heard one near the road. A cracker to see close up in the hand and before this Jim had also trapped a Jack Snipe. I nipped over to Carn Friars and relocated the Barred Warbler that Jim trapped yesterday. 2 Swallow, 2 Fieldfare and good numbers of Redwing were also in the area.

including this one, Jim has trapped 12 Yellow-browed Warbler at Porth Hellick already this month

Relocated the Barred Warbler at Carn Friars that Jim trapped yesterday.

On St Agnes, there was a male Mandarin was on the Big Pool. Later news broke of a mega PALE-LEGGED/SAKHALAN WARBLER on St Agnes! Unfortunately this 1st for Scilly was found dead after hitting a window! This was quickly followed by the sixth Red-flanked Bluetail for Scilly in the Chapel Fields.

Just after 16.00, a Red-flanked Bluetail was found by Barry Hunt. Only this time it was just up road at Inisidgen where it showed well for the small crowd at the new plantation. After an hour, the birders had moved on and there were only a few us left as we all had cracking views of the bluetail. At 17.45 I was just about to leave when two birders arrived and the bird had gone missing. I stayed to help them find it. It didn't take long and while it was perched up just in front of me, another bird pushed it off. All I could see were 2 Red-flanked Bluetail chasing each other in and out of the bush. I turned around and shouted to the others who behind me 'There's two!! There's two birds!!' however, when I turned back, there wasn't even a single one in sight. I walked around on my own on the lower path searching but there was no sign. Perhaps I was goin nuts and it was the Robin that's been busy before chasing the bluetail off. However, while I was away looking, unknown to me, two birds were being observed on the upper path by other birders! Earlier, Martin Goodey and I thought there were two bluetails present but kind of passed it off.

Up to 3 Red-flanked Bluetail turned up on Scilly today including two together at Inisidgen! If accepted these would be the 6th, 7th and 8th for Scilly.

A flock of 140+Redwing were observed just before dark at Inisidgen

And birders twitched this male Mandarin on St Agnes Robin Mawer

Ok, I'm very angry at the moment and after reading this, I reckon you will be angry as well. Only last week on BBC R2 Jeremy Vine Show, John Rees of Stop the War was interviewed by Vine arguing against that liar Boris Johnson plan for an air war with Russia as well as protesting outside the Russian Embassy in London! Now, I'm always angry and frustrated when that Buffoon Johnson opens his mouth and what he said just proves that he is not capable of being the Foreign Secretary. However, on this occasion it's not Boris but Jeremey Vine. He's doing an interview with Stop the War and you might not know this, but Vine has made speeches for a five-figure sum for arms dealers at £246-per-head dinners!! It proves that he does not give a danm about human lives and money is more important to him!

And this is what Jeremy Vine is supporting as our bombs rain down on Yemen.

Britain is diverting precision-guided bombs once intended for its Royal Air Force to Saudi Arabia so the Gulf State can build up a supply of the bombs it is using against targets in Yemen and Syria.

Jeremy Vine Sparks Outrage With ‘Five-Figure’ Speech To Arms Dealers

Jeremy Vine represents the BBC and this was there response for the pathetic man that he is! The BBC distanced itself from the presenter, with a spokesman telling the Huffington Post UK: ‘Jeremy is a freelance presenter and so can make personal appearances without speaking on behalf of the BBC, as he did here.’

Radio 2 host Jeremy Vine has been accused of tarnishing the reputation of the BBC for speaking at a £246-per-head dinner for arms dealers. Vine, who is going to play a leading role in the corporation’s General Election coverage, is reported to have made the appearance at the ADS dinner earlier this week for a “five-figure” sum. The controversial event, hosted at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London, was interrupted at the start by a speech by an anti-arms trade campaigner, who dramatically tore the assembled arms dealers, urging them to “think on what you do and reconsider your jobs!” Senior politicians joined Vine at the dinner, including business secretary Vince Cable, who sat at the top table with the BBC presenter and also gave a speech.

He last year came under fire for failing to back an arms embargo against Israel in favour of a “very weak” threat to suspend 12 export licences if violence breaks out again in the region. The Lib Dem minister sat with Labour’s Vernon Coaker, the shadow defence secretary, and the heads of the ADS, the trade body for UK Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space industries. Vine’s appearance at the dinner sparked a backlash from anti-arms trade campaigners and social media users.

Andrew Smith, from Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “The BBC is meant to stand for freedom of speech and high quality journalism, yet one of its best known personalities was speaking to a room full of arms dealers who profit from repression around the world.

‘’It’s outrageous that the government actively supports and promotes this deadly trade. The fact that arms dealers were swilling champagne with over 40 MPs is a disgrace and shows the extent of the arms trade’s connections and political lobbying.”