31 March 2009

Dem birds done gone

Two reports of Gwent megas in two days and it's already too much excitement for the local fraternity. The Honey Buzzard appears to be getting a right old bricking from the shadowy figures inhabiting the gloomy sewer that is the Gwentglamcestershire corner of the interweb. Just for a change, I think this record is probably getting a harsher than deserved response. Yes, it is bleeding early for a Honey Buzzard and no, there isn't a photo, but the facts are: at least one of the observers isn't a numpty; the bird in question showed reasonably well; and the decription I have heard is not that bad. I'm not saying it was definitely a Honey Buzzard, but I would argue it is one for the committee as opposed to one for people that can't even dream up a good pseudonym.

Anyway the chase, to which I will now cut, is that neither of the reported beasties could be bothered to hang around, so we are all in the same sinking boat - stood here like so many botty-burps on the breeze in a cold, birdless, shitey corner of the UK without two rarities to rub together. But don't despair! The camaraderie of this band of birding brothers will see us through! Failing that, I find standing on the sea-wall and gazing longingly into the distance helps,... *sob*.

PS. How many early migrants are around this year?! How ironic would it be if the teensy-weensy brained birds are reacting to global warming quicker than the frontal cortex laden Homo sapiens. Oh, how I will laugh.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

wheres the bird now???????????
probably found it to cold and went back to spain.

Darryl said...

Well quite, a question that could be asked every time a bird disappears, not a great argument against them existing in the first place (and a sad indictment of the teaching of English in the principality) but, yes indeed, a question that could be asked every time a bird disappears,... well asked.

Splott dog millionaire. said...

T'was ever so early for HB! I quite like your post on the 18 March,quite ironic really.

Darryl said...

I agree, as I mentioned "it is bleeding early for a Honey Buzzard".

Darryl said...

Oh, and while I'm here, the difference between the HB claim (which I should point out I am neither supporting nor dismissing) and the Reed Warbler and Scaup claims is that one is by a known local 'regular' whilst the other two are secondhand reports from the local RSPB (an organisation which, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with birding; bird conservation/education/membership recruitment/coffee selling, yes, birding, no).

ID Duff(Gwentshire) said...

You never know Daryl perhaps this Honey is indeed a pioneer for the species, but lets face it the fact that there are very few pairs in Britain and such an early date the odds are very heavily stacked aginst this being accepted.
As fo r this grimy part of the country , if you aint happy here toddle off back home as local you aint, later

Darryl said...

If you are happy in Gwent, indeed, if you are happy anywhere in the modern world then you are supremely ignorant of your surroundings or in denial. The only rational mental approach, in the face of a. catastrophic biodiversity loss, b. uncontrollable climate change and c. the proximity of Newport, is to play fetch with a black ball and the blackest of black dogs called blackie-blackie-black-black on a starless and bible-black night on the low ground where the scum and filth of a guilty conscience continually gather.

Or, to put it another way, to where should one "toddle".

Or, to put it a third way, are you hiding a pre-lapserian utopia deep in the bowels of Gwentcestershire?

Darryl said...

Or, to put it yet one more (and final) way, I'd have thought it was bleedin' obvious that you shouldn't take anything you read on here (or anywhere else for that matter) too seriously.

Anonymous said...

That i agree with, but then agian you've fallen into your own trap to my post .
Try Trefil you might get picked up by aliens and wisked off to the Utopia you yearn for

Darryl said...

Yeah, the pseudo-martian landscapes of Trefil or Red Pools must be the most likely spots for an alien encounter :-)

skidmark said...

the biggest shat-pit on the planet exists not in the Principality,but in hingerlund,a place so shat that even the gulls wont shat on it just in case they besmirch their very own shat,that shatpit is middlesborough,shatcestershire.

Darryl said...

Er,... O,... k.

PS. For details of local coprophilia focused cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions contact the Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust at www.wales.nhs.uk. :-)