INDIAN HOUSE CROW in Eire

I love corvidae me. I think my passion for them began at an early age when I first saw the Walt Disney classic Dumbo. Can you remember those jive talking 'jazz crows' and that 'I've Never Seen An Elephant Fly' song? I reckon the scene where they ruthlessly ridiculed that pathetic, big-lugged pachyderm actually inspired me to become a life-long piss-taker. Corvids cropped up again later in my childhood, this time advertising Kia-Ora orange squash. Despite my allergy to aspartime and sodium hexametaphosphate I loved that commercial and the way the product made me wheeze, reminiscent of a northern birder traipsing his way up to Blakeney Point.

Anyway, despite my obsession for anything feathery, black and glossy there is still no way that I would travel all the way to the Emerald Isle to admire a ship-assisted INDIAN HOUSE CROW. There are however a number of British birders that have made the trip to County Cork in order to add it to their 'Britain & Ireland Lists' One of these eccentric Englishmen happens to be Sussex based twitcher extraordinaire and impending birding, television celebrity Garry Bagnell. This dedicated fellow travelled all the way over to Ireland in order to reach his monumental target of 500 bird 'species' ..... under UK400 Club rulings. As you will see from the photographs below he did actually connect with the subcontinental refugee and he celebrated accordingly.

The IRISH HOUSE CROW at Cobh, County Cork cleverly utilises an old lollipop stick in order to dislodge old bits of chewing gum from the cobbled streets.... allegedly.

'Bagnell of the Boyne' celebrates in style. Wearing an 'orange' T-shirt in Ireland with the word 'Britain' emblazoned across it is nearly as brave as twitching a rarity at Seaforth Docks whilst bedecked in a Manchester United shirt. All that is missing from Gary's attire is a bowler hat, a pair of white gloves and a tangerine sash. It's a good job our Gaelic brothers and sisters over there have a good sense of humour.

For a full report on Gary's trip over the water please click HERE!