Well, it wasn't any of them.... probably ... A few years ago I was strolling by one of the local lakes ....quite an unusual one actually .. a "pingo" I think ... post-glacial or whatever. Standing by the lake, wielding her binoculars, was a lady. She turned to me and said.. "There's a Black-Throated Diver over there." I raised my binoculars in a casual sort of way, as you do. You don't want to look too enthusiastic else people will think you're some gormless plonker. No. You stay cool, reserved, calm. You want to give the impression that you've seen hundreds of them, you know some of them personally. Well, dear readers, it was a Cormorant. Yes, a bit of a raggedy, bashed-up sort of cormorant, but it was indeed a cormorant. Anyway, I let her be, and carried on walking. No need to disabuse her of her pleasant discovery. However, on the way back, the bedraggled cormorant was still swimming around happily. But the woman was on her mobile, ringing out the news that there was a B-Th D at what I will call Sethman Lake for the sake of secrecy. Aha. That changed things didn't it. If she carried on like that loads of twitchers and idiots and local-listers would be using up hours of time and gallons of petrel driving miles to see a ... cormorant. I felt I should say something. I was very diplomatic. I could have been horrible and said " You great pudding, that it a cormorant, and definitely not a Black-Throated Diver, and you must be stark staring mad to ever have thought it was. If you keep messaging it, they will be both disappointed and angry." What I actually said was .. " I know it does look a lot like a Black-Throated Diver, and it nearly had me going a bit, but looking at it in detail I can see that it is actually a very odd-looking Cormorant. It really would be a bit of a shame if anyone made a special trip to see it. " Her reply was an absolute corker, and it put me thoroughly in my place... here we go .. " Well, for your information, it has been seen by a real birdwatcher who has seen them in South America and has got proper binoculars." No word of a lie. That was what she said. Readers ... I just walked away. With my inferior binoculars and total lack of South American experience. I was hurt, it's true. I trudged back gloomily to the car, wondering if it was worth carrying on with my inferior optics and my lack of international know-how. Somehow, over the next few weeks and months, I managed to make some sort of recovery, though it all still hurts to this day. I realise now that my week in Lithuania and 2½ hours in France have left me totally lacking in all departments, and my antiquated Zeiss bins are rubbish. I'm not normally glum. But all the way home I felt very glum. I couldn't afford to get proper binoculars and pay for a trip to South America. When I told The Significant Otter my sad tale, she said I shouldn't have interfered. Yes ... I'm an interfering old Hector. But who was this mysterious "proper" birdwatcher ? Did anybody actually turn up to (not) see the B-THr-D ? We will probably never know. Maybe I should just go and live all alone in a "village by the sea" .... Dwedais i ddim fy fod yn mynd Dwedais i ddim fy fod yn mynd Pentref wrth y mor rwy ti'n galw fi A rwyn dechrau crynu Yn ei llygaid chi'n gweld y mor Yn ei llygaid chi'n gweld y mor Pentref wrth y mor rwy ti'n galw fi A rwyn dechrau crynu Rhoddwch dy ben tu ol dy breichiau Siglwch dy pen, siglwch dy coesau Rhoddwch dy ben tu ol dy breichiau Siglwch dy pen, siglwch dy coesau Rhywbeth yn rhywle, a rhywbeth yn anghywir Rhywbeth yn rhywle, a pethau yn anghywir Hey ... it's the 50th post and I haven't done anything special to mark the occasion.
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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