Saturday, August 26, 2006

Lest we forget....

Well, b***** my b******s with a sharpened stick! I was clearing out a bookcase trying to make space for the assorted loot I picked up at the BirdFair, and I found an old photo album. So, in a random sort of way, here's some blast-from-the-past.



Cape Clear - seawatching, 1990 or 1991. From left to right, un-named YOC member, then Dave Bird (with long red hair, CCI warden at the time), then the next one (looking at camera) I'm pretty sure is Dave Allen, minus beard, but ex-Bardsey Warden and future CCI warden. Then 2 YOC people who may not even have had names (if you're reading this, prove me wrong). Then me (yellow arrow) also looking ginger, balancing unscratched Zeiss bins on top of multi-coloured tape-wrapped Bushnell Spacemaster. The some other assorted YOC flotsam (!- again, prove me wrong). Ah! The Bushnell Spacemaster... tell me how many people knew that as their first scope. Me for one. An innovative optic design... at Cape Clear, everyone else saw the white rump of the Storm Petrels. Me, I saw the yellow rump. Happy days.




Israel, May 1992. Forgotten but very welcome roadside café that sold BEER! Such a treat. Left to right... Chris McInnerny, Ken Shaw, Fraser McConnell and Steve Addinall (aka Bonsai Birder to BF members). Didn't they look young? Who'd have guessed what we would all become? Note some sort of sexy poster on the wall. Israel, brilliant for birds, shite for people. Oooh, little bit of politics for you there.


OOooooh.. too much beer. Chris and Steve birding hard. Shall we be generous and suggest they might be recording the overhead migration of Levant Sparrowhawk? With their eyes shut. It could happen.... they're better birders than me.


5 comments:

Harry said...

Did you submit your Yellow-rumped Storm-petrel? Not been an Irish record yet....
The one thing that really marks out the age of the photos is a gang of seawatching Brits actually being on Cape: sure nowadays they all go to the Bridges!
Were there actually any Irish birders seawatching that day??
H

Martin said...

Good point. I did met some Irish birders but they were pretty much in the minority, except on August bank holiday weekend. It was the last bastion of the British Empire! :-)

I phoned my storm-petrel in to RBA at the time.... didn't you get it? :-)

Bonsaibirder said...

Beware - I have a better photo of you - in a leather jacket, in the snow - looking for Syrian Serin !!

Martin said...

Wow, I'd forgotten about that. I'm sure I can dig up a photo of us scoping the brown boobies on Eilat beach.

Martin said...

Wow! I remember it all now! Storm petrels at night, Oscar and his Scaup,the guy with the Bausch bins. I still aspire to an ED, you swine. What/where are you?