I Don't Hate Mondays

 Apologies to the Boomtown Rats but this was one Monday that did not suck at all! I was glad that no one was sitting opposite me when I was checking the local bird news during my break at work as otherwise they would have had to endure a salad shower. Pictures and reports of an American Pipit at Clifford Hill found by many a county birder's new best friend Tyler Atkinson had me swearing and choking at the same time. An overwhelming sense of FOMO gripped me and my mind raced trying to think of ways that would allow me to connect with this county first. I abandoned my lunch and went to talk to the boss explaining that an ornithological emergency had occurred which required my immediate attention. Miraculously my boss, clearly an intelligent and accommodating sort, agreed to let me leave early which meant that I now needed to find a lift.

American Pipit

Phil Rogers was almost as keen I was to see the bird and after suffering a double whammy of disappointment at the hands of both the NHS and Stagecoach earlier in the day arrived to pick me up just after four. Rush hour traffic, particularly in Northampton itself, had this decidedly atheist birder offering up silent prayers to the birding gods. We arrived at Clifford Hill as the sky was beginning to turn pink on the western horizon and I marched towards a small crowd of birders gathered on the southern shore. Sheep scattered as I strolled purposefully towards the group, rather shame facedly I'd left Phil in my wake. When I got to the spot several helpful birders put me on to the bird which fed pretty close to where the birders were gathered. Good views were had and I even managed to get a few pics. Phil arrived and also got decent views before the pipit departed westwards possibly off to roost.

More pipit shots.

The walk back to the car was somewhat more relaxed, it's always nicer when the bird is in the bag. This was my second sighting of this species in my lifetime though my previous bird was then called a Buff-bellied Pipit when I saw it way back in 1988 on the Isles of Scilly. I don't think that Orange Donny forced the name change, it was probably a taxonomic shift that prompted it. I know some local birders had been hoping for a good yankee migrant this autumn but I feel that people were expecting it to be a wader and certainly not a passerine. We left as the dusk descended and picked up Cheryl on our way through Corby before heading to the spoons where a meal and celebratory pint were enjoyed.