Frustration

Yesterday got an email from Norwegian.no informing me that the first leg of my return from Norway in March has been put back from 14:45 to 17:05 which means I land in Oslo 35 minutes after my flight to London has departed - as this was all booked as a single ticket you might think they'd have realised!

Spent an hour on the phone to Norway last night to absolutely no avail - couldn't talk to a single person who could make any decision. Eventually got a promise they'd phone me back - at 23:00 today I've still heard nothing. Anyway didn't sleep terribly well & got up early checked a few options on t'interweb and thought bu***er them and now completely rebooked with SAS. Will get a refund from Norwegian.no if they ever deem to phone back.

So chill dear boy, lets head off to Ruddons Point and find ourselves a Surf Scoter, a new lifetime tick if we succeed, but as this will be the fourth attempt this year, it's probably a tall order, but Ruddons is just a great bird-watching venue it'll be enjoyable anyway.

The sea was calm and we set ourselves up on a high point and methodically went through the ducks on view and hey presto within quarter of an hour we had our Surf Scoter, but with the scope on maximum (60x) it was still only a wee dot. I decided to leave Mrs L with scope and wee camera to try and get a digiscope shot while I went for a two mile walk along the beach in an attempt to get a shot with the 500mm. Without a scope it was impossible for me to keep track of where the bird was and being a bit of a luddite when my mobile died I didn't replace it so I couldn't keep in touch with Mrs L.

Anyway took loads of pictures of all the ducks and waders on view and although I'd failed to pick it up with the binoculars I was hopeful the once I got them on the pc it'd magically be there, well I've fine pictures of Redshank, Oystercatcher, Sanderling, Red-breasted Merganser, Eider, Slavonian Grebe, Black-throated Diver, Common Scoter, Velvet Scoter, but no Surf Scoter. Returning to Mrs L, she had succeeded in getting some digiscope shots, they are as good as could be expected, but in reality they are dire.

The forecast for the next few days is for high winds so whatever we'll be doing it won't be sea-watching which just increases the frustration of seeing the Surf Scoter and not getting an even marginally reasonable photo.

After Ruddens, we decided to check out the Fife Bird Club hide at Kilconquhar, where today's photo was taken. This is RCB (RedCoatedBirder), sporting his brand new Shadow Black look. SBCB has a ring to it, but I think we'll stick with RCB - I like the concept of being the odd one out. Anyway for those that follow RCB's journal I must apologise, because today's frustrations spilled over and I've sent him to bed without blipping - he'll catch up tomorrow as will I with my comments.

Good night all.