Confessions of a lapsed birder

White-throated Robin – Hartlepool Headland, Hartlepool, Cleveland, 7^th June 2011

This is one of a sizeable batch of such accounts that was written retrospectively, several years on, after the loss of my Masked Shrike write-up due to some IT disaster completely killed my will to complete such accounts for all too long…… . However, I eventually renewed my efforts during the first part of COVID-19 lockdown.

Although, again, ‘source material’ was very limited, this was such a memorable twitch that I had somewhat more to work with; I could remember the day well.

On the morning Monday the 6th June 2011 whatever I was doing was thrown into chaos by the astounding news on the pager of a White-throated Robin at Hartlepool Headland.

The message said: “MEGA Cleveland WHITE-THROATED ROBIN Hartlepool Headland trapped + ringed + will be released shortly (not Red-flanked Bluetail) .... .”

Apparently, the ringer involved had thought he’d seen a Red-flanked Bluetail before setting up his nets and then assumed this was the bird he subsequently extracted and bagged, before then advising Tom Francis that he had trapped a Red-flanked Bluetail. This ‘news’ was then relayed to the information services in good faith......... . It was then promptly corrected. It was 09:00.

For whatever reason I was very slow to react (I was especially busy at this time managing and undertaking bird surveys in relation to both the proposed Carcant and Cormaud wind-farms and also working various other smaller projects).

It wasn’t until much later that day, after there had been incessant updates for hours, that I began to realise that something as unobtainable as White-throated Robin might actually be attainable. By then it was too late to go to see it that day but if it was there the following day I had to go. That was it. That was the plan. I ‘phoned Kris Gibb that evening to see whether he was interested in going and he (obviously!) told me he had been there earlier that day with Dennis Morrison, and as such, in effect, thanks but no thanks. However, he volunteered that his uncle, Mike Thrower, would very much be interested in going should it still be there the following day. Kris gave me Mike’s number.

I then ‘phoned Mike and we made provisional arrangements to meet up at one of the car-parks at the Straiton Retail Park once there was any positive news on Tuesday morning. I then made the usual preparatory arrangements but otherwise carried on as normal. Or, at least, I did so as best as I could. A potentially twitchable White-throated Robin was a tad distracting.

As luck would have it, there was positive news from early on the following morning!!!! I relayed the good news to Mike, and sometime later that morning, we duly met up in the nominated car-park at the Straiton Retail Park. This all worked fine.

Now, as fellow members of the Lothian birding scene, Mike and I certainly knew each other prior to this. For example, when I had taken the girls to see a White-rumped Sandpiper at Aberlady Bay he and I had chatted. On a subsequent occasion, remembering this (and tangentially referencing his own life circumstances) Mike had urged me to look after (my relationship with) the girls. But we didn’t necessarily know each other well.

Mike is, let’s say, a character, a larger than life character. He’s a huge bloke who very definitely looks as though he’s had a life. Anyway, as I pulled into the car-park and located his (red?) car he promptly spotted me and quickly clambered into the car. More or less immediately he launched into an unwarranted explanation of his life circumstances (or aspects of it!). He explained basically that he had, “Got involved with the wrong people,” and, ‘Had ended up as a driver for gangsters in Edinburgh”. The fact that he’s huge and has a certain menace made me think there was rather more to his job description, but I didn’t pursue this.

This was a very interesting way of starting what was to be a good few hours in the company of someone you didn’t necessarily know very well. In fairness to Mike we chatted away about all sorts subsequently. Amongst everything else Mike also told me that his partner was a legal secretary (I privately speculated about just how they might have met). He also told me that one of his grandfather’s had been a gamekeeper in the employ of Winston Churchill on his estate at Chartwell in Kent, and Churchill would ask Mike’s grandfather to row him out onto the lake whenever he needed ‘thinking’ time. Mike has certainly inherited his grandfather’s field skills – his photography of nesting birds is exceptional.

As a result of all this interesting chat, it was a good drive, taking what seemed to be no time.

Mike and I didn’t really know what to expect on arrival. He may have been told about the scenes involved by Kris on the previous day, but thankfully I think we were largely oblivious.

It subsequently emerged that the scenes during the evening on the previous day, when the bird had been eventually re-discovered in the ‘Doctor’s Garden’ were right up there with those in the Larkfield, near Maidstone on the Saturday of the Golden-winged Warbler twitch. After having been ringed and processed it was released at the bowling green, where, at first, it was well-behaved and provided the ever increasing number of birders good views. However, it became less cooperative later on, when it frequently departed the bowling green area into the adjacent high walled allotments, and irregularly returned. It then disappeared when a bowling match started. Eventually, it was successfully re-located in the high-walled garden of Dr Reece. There was no access as the doctor was away from home, and enterprising locals provided ladders and vans, etc., to enable birders to see into the garden...... . Incredible.

Fortunately, the next day, soon after we arrived we discovered that there was access to the Doctor’s Garden as he had returned home. We gratefully queued up, and (via the garage I think?) entered and parted with whatever was the suggested fee for the privilege. This allowed us into the back garden where we were easily able to enjoy good views in much better circumstances than the previous day.

Throughout our stay the bird could be watched as it fed unobtrusively in the opposite corner of the large garden. There were just the right number of birders allowed in at any one time and (as the bird was constantly on show and we were in someone’s private garden perhaps) everyone was well behaved.

It was a bit like a Nightingale in size and shape whilst also appearing pot-bellied and long-tailed. When feeding it was invariably on the ground, running and then stopping, often with its tail cocked. Its upper-parts were a largely concolourous brownish grey. The under-parts were paler, off-white in general with the exception of an orange flush on the flanks (like Red-flanked Bluetail) and a greyer upper breast. The chin and under-tail coverts were white. There was a very indistinct supercilium, and the ear coverts were warm brown. There was a faint eye-ring around the dark eye, and the bill and legs were dark. The bill was quite heavy.

Truly excellent!!! And we had twitched it in style, after the chaotic scenes later on the first day. Mike and I certainly had plenty to talk about on the journey home too.

This was the third record for the UK and the first twitchable one. Interestingly, the first was on the Calf of Man on the 22nd June 1983. I had been touted as a potential assistant warden for the Calf of Man by Mike Wareing at the BTO Ringers’ and / or Annual Conferences the previous autumn and winter. I’d had some dialogue with the then Warden, Adrian del Nevo, regarding the same, partly due to my vague Isle of Man connections given my visit there to help John Nuttall with doing some building work before doing some birding in the autumn after graduating university in 1982, and then my visits to see Lilian and Joyce there after John had sadly died. I could have been in on a first for the UK (although Ken is always very dismissive of this record..... ).