Dark-throated Thrush......wahey!

Dark Throated Thrush, what one of them? Well actually it is a Black-throated Thrush, but they are called Dark-throated Thrush. It does make sense if you think about it, after all black is quite a dark colour isn't it? To put it into context if you saw somebody with a black beard, you could describe them as having a dark beard couldn't you? Anyway, I think you get the gist of it..........................so where was I? Oh yes the Dark-throated Thrush!
The Black-throated Thrush had been present in some gardens in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, for some time. However the bird was very difficult to see. I finally cracked, especially as the bird was quite east to get to. So the following day Craig and myself were on our way up the M74 toward Glasgow and then on to Wemyss Bay where we boarded the ferry. From the ferry port we could see several Black Guillemot, Eiders and a few Shags! The ferry trip was a rather wet and cold 30 minutes (all that for just £5.45 return)! As soon as we landed at Rothesay we made our way to Church lane where the bird was favouring some gardens.
On arrival there was a birder already looking for the thrush, he had been looking for a couple of hours but had not seen it! He also informed us that another birder at been looking for the bird and it had not been seen for at least three hours - this did not bode well!
I made my way down to the corner of the walled garden where there was a big chunk of concrete that I could stand on and peer over the walled garden. After about ten minutes, a bird perched up into a deciduous bush next to a leylandi tree. I could not believe it, it was the 1st winter male Black-throated Thrush - Amazing. I called Craig and the other chap and managed to get them onto the bird. We got excellent views of the bird as it sat just 15-20yrds away. However before I could set up my camera properly it flew down into a garden and out of sight! About 20 minutes later we got brief flight views as it flew into the leylandi. The weather turned grim and it lashed down with rain, we waited it out but to no real avail. Once the rain subsided we only got brief views of the thrush as it preened in the back of the laylandi tree! Still we had already got fantastic views, just a pity no decent pics were obtained! Other bird seen in the gardens were the usual common garden birds including siskin!
We made our way back to the ferry port and as we were waiting I picked out a 2nd winter Iceland Gull as it flew over. This was a superb bonus on a pretty successful twitch!

28th February - Hi folks I'm still here!

Sorry for the dearth of postings of late, but the simple reason is I have not been out birding lately Workload has been very high, but more importantly my poor dog Phoebe has been very ill. For those of you who have met Phoebe will know that she is such a likeble dog full of boundless energy. However she took ill on 17th February and by the 20th she was needed a blood transfusion! Yep serious stuff, she has been diagnosed with a blood disorder called Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia (IMHA), this is basically where her immune system attacks her red blood cells. Worrying times at the moment, though she is stable at the moment. For those interested, you can keep up with her progress on her own blog called Phoebe's Progress.

On a more positive note, Through the magic of Youtube I have just added a video clips section to my website. Don't get too excited the clips are not that great (taken with the Nikon Coolpix 4500) but you can tell what they are supposed to be!

Anyway, I hope to have some birding to report soon as I am off work all next week yae!