Whilst working Tuesday evening, I turned my phone on just after 18.30 to the news that a Varied thrush had been found on Papa Westray on the Orkneys.
WOW! I couldn't wait to get out of work and get sorted. I met up with Malc Curtin, Fred Fearn, and Mark Sutton just after 10.30pm and started the long journey north and arrived at Scabster just after 6.00am. We were soon on the Northlink ferry, then drove to Kirkwall to meet up with our charter boat.
All aboard! We're off!
An hour later, we arrived on Papa Westray and were picked up at the quay by David Roche, the finder of this monster of a bird. A quick sprint down the track, and there it was in the middle of the lawn.
What a bird! We all just stood there, amazed at what we were witnessing as a small group.
This bird had made one hell of a journey from the North West coast of America.
There has only been one previous record of this species in Britain:
Cornwall, Nanquidno, St Just, 14th to 23rd November 1982
After great views of the bird, we headed back to the charter boat, and then after a mad drive to meet the ferry, we had done it, on and off in a day. I arrived back home in the early hours of Friday morning, absolutely shattered. What an epic twitch!
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