On June
19th 2010 at around 10:00 whilst watering hanging baskets in a small
communal garden at Staple Hill in Bristol, pensioner Janet Farley (aged
75) was distracted by birdsong she did not recognise. Turning from her
watering she was confronted, about five metres away, by a small Robin
sized bird with a bright blue breast, she said ...'I could even see the
white on it'.... She watched the bird for a couple of minutes in full
song and bright sunshine on the stems of a mature Pampas in a shrubby
boarder. The Bluethroat moved to a nearby bird table where it fed on
suet then to a bird bath where it washed and drank, returning to the
Pampas where it moved to the back of the plant and resumed singing.
Janet mentioned ...'It was a little more difficult too see then but I
could still hear it'...
At this
point Janet slowly retreated from the scene to fetch her compact camera.
She said... 'Whilst I was getting my camera I was hoping it would still
be there when I got back'... Fortune has it that the bird was still at
the back of the Pampas and still singing on Janet's return. Camera in
hand she managed to capture this single photo, she went on to say...'I
zoomed in a little too far so the bird looks bigger than it actually
was, but it wasn't frightened when the flash went off'... Having managed
that single shot she watched the bird around the garden until around
11:15 when it departed and was not seen subsequently.
This
remarkably freaky occurrence came to light after a bizarre set of
events; She showed the photo on her camera to someone who recognised it
as a Bluethroat, that friend took his dog for a walk and bumped into
Allan Chard. On hearing the tale, Allan raced back to see Janet, saw the
photo, borrowed the SD card and dashed round to the local film
developing shop and had two copies made! The information with a digital
copy of the photo was emailed to both the BOC and Birding South Glos
and news was released on June 25th 2010.
I
eventually caught up with Janet at her home in Staple Hill on June 30th
2010 where she very kindly showed me the photo on her camera and took me
on a tour of the communal garden, pointing out the Pampas, bird table
and bird bath where she watched this amazing bird!
Martyn
Hayes - June 2010.
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