Purple Rain by Prince (or whatever he calls himself nowadays) is an awesome track, but then so is Anarchy in the UK by The Sex Pistols. However, that said, the two tracks are not comparable. This is a bit like the fact that Short-billed Dowitcher and Masked Shrike are both awesome birds, but surely although both have a similar rarity value they are not comparable. My point is I think Purple Rain is a fantastic track however Anarchy in the UK is far superior. Much like the fact that I think that Short-billed Dowitcher is a superb bird to see in the UK, but I feel that Masked Shrike is a far nicer bird to see!
Well what has this got to do with my few hours birding today............er...............nowt!
Derek picked me up early afternoon and we headed towards Anthorn to see what we could see. We were hoping for some geese on Newton Marsh, but apart from a very small group of Pink-footed Geese there were none to be seen! The estuary was fairly quite also, with just a few Redshank and Oystercatchers. We continued on around towards Bowness-on-solway and had a quick look on the scrape at Campfield, besides a few wigeon there was very little to see. Next stop was Port Carlisle Harbour where we got nice views of the wintering Greenshank amongst the throng of Redshank (also a few dunlin and know mixed in). There was two female Scaup feeding close inshore along with a few Red-breasted Mergansers. Five Pintail flew in over the water and a small group of Kittiwake flew upstream on the rising tide.
Next we had a look at Easton, still no geese! A run along to Oulten produced a flock of around 1800 Pink-footed Geese, a nice end to a couple of hours birding!
So I guess what I am saying is that the Masked Shrike is definitely in the 'Sex Pistols' genre of rarities.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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