Hartlepool x 2

June 11

Phew. Hectic couple of days..............

Dying to make it to Hartlepool , Thursday the 9th after Pam's dental appointment was the first opportunity since the bird was found on Monday the 6th. Trapped by a local ringer and originally ID'd as a Red-flanked Bluetail, understandably from the pics.

We arrived at the Inner Bowling Green on Hartlepool Headland at ten minutes before two. We joined about thirty other birders in a six hour futile wait for the bird, leaning on a fence watching a men's bowling match. They were elderly, most were unable to bend low enough so that the bowls were launched Barnes Wallis like, bouncing along the lawn.

The Green is enclosed by houses, it really is a suburban area with the sea in the distance. Two birders kept watch over the walled gardens, using  ladders. Had a good chat with Dave who we birded China with and saw the man who watched the Nightjars with us at Dersingham Bog.

At 8 p.m we made the decision to drive home rather than find a B and B and hope for a sighting in the morning. Home at 1.05 a.m. after a good run with very little traffic.

June 10

The bird had re-appeared! 

Pam said 'Let's go, it will be too crowded at the weekend', and we did. A quick visit to Rai and Barbara re the cats and we left at 11.10.,  arriving back at the Headland at 5.20 having stocked up at an M and S, intending to stay the night.

An empty and quiet bowling green this time and only about fifteen birders , the bird had been showing well on and off all morning and the successful had left. After ten minutes,  a man with a ladder went off to inspect the doctor's garden and we stayed chatting. Five minutes later - after an offer of a couple of ladders by two window cleaning lads - at a price - a pager message sent us back to the main road where the ladder owner was perched on top of it peering over a ten foot wall. 

A second ladder quickly appeared, ours is the one on the right - note the black stuff on the wall.

Pam was second up the steps and I was third to see... a 1st summer female White-throated Robin resting at the foot of a rose bush at the back of a substantial lawn. (Lee thinks it's first summer male owing to the amount of blue showing) Trying to still my jellified knees (years since I climbed a ladder) , I took some record shots before climbing down to give others a go. 

No more than a record shot, it was very distant, of a lovely bird.

The wall was daubed with some black oily stuff. I reckon everyone had a black smear on their hands and/or clothes as a souvenir. I certainly did.

We then stood chatting to a very pleasant local birder who was a fund of twitch stories.

Pam talking to the local birder

*1,500 birders made the journey on Monday and there were 15 ladders propped against the wall.

*Some kids offered tea and coffee and were inundated. When birders asked if there was any food, they disppeared into their homes and came back with cheese sandwiches.

* A funeral cortege squeezed through and, when it was over, some of the mourners came back to join in.

* One man atop a ladder was binoc-less and, when asked if he could see the bird replied, ' I've always wanted a look at this garden, I've never seen it before'.

* Another child offered the use of a trampoline to see over the wall.

All the locals were very indulgent, pleasant and interested. Our local informant said that they were used to birders peering into their gardens as the whole built up area had seen some very good birds. He reeled off a mouth-watering list. Apparently the trees by the chippy are a good trap. It explains why mist nets were up in the first place.

If we'd stayed another hour or so, the bird returned to the bowling green and I might have got better photos, there are some crackers on the web. It seemed more urgent to get home, after Pam made the decision to do so, rather than stay the night. Several really heavy showers and heavy traffic made the drive to Kings Lynn unpleasant, especially when it got dark. We were still home at 11.20 after a very successful final outcome.
Saturday June 12
The bird has flown! Very disappointing for the weekend crowd. It happened to us frequently when we were working, Monday to Friday raries that is.