Incapacitated as I am by only having one leg at present, getting down to the patch, and moving around to actually do any meaninful birding is proving a challenge.
That said, press-ganging various family members into taking me birding on mental health grounds hasn't been entirely fruitless. Indeed, this very Thursday just gone -- on my birthday, no less -- I managed to cajole Sybil into a jaunt down to the patch, yielding a fine male Shoveler on the lake.
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| Shoveler on the lake... majik... well, for a duck, at least. |
And it's not just the family stepping up. In all fairness, credit where credit's due and all that jazz. Seppy has been a rock through this journey of hardship and slow recovery.
A smallish, somewhat reluctant rock, it has to be said, but he has occasionally succumbed to my repeated badgering to give me the odd spin for a cursory look around the patch. In spite of his valiant efforts to suppress as much as humanly possible, these mini-sojourns have yielded an immpressive total of two (count-em) year-ticks over the last five weeks or more. The first, a fine Yellow-browed Warbler -- my first of the autumn, and, much to my driver's chagrin, a splendid Dabchick this last Sunday.
Fair play!
My unfortunate affliction, and the fact I've been unable to skive off and hit the patch at will while everyone else is at work, means I have no doubt missed legions of migrants passing through this autumn. Despite the hardship, the slim pickings that have turned up take the tally to a respectable 103.15% as we enter the final stretch.
Game on!
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